Flipping Through The Pages
by ScarlettSlipper
Summary: Complete A blustery night brings your favorite GIJOE characters for one evening they will never forget. First Joe story for this author, so please be gentle.
1. Notech1

-1AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I do not own any of the G.I. Joe characters, or any other character, movie title, book or anything else that is copywrited in this storyline. The only thing that rightfully belongs to me is my imagination. So please, no law suits.

This is my first ever Fan Fiction of G. I. Joe. I have only seen the cartoon since childhood and still do not know the full comic storyline, even though I know some details. If I have a mistake, please send me a email or PM and not a Cobra Bomb. Thank you.

I do hope that you all enjoy this story. It took me six weeks to complete. I am now writing my next Joe tale. I hope this brings a smile to your face and if not, please do not send me to Destro's Dungeon.. Do not like rats.. Or snakes.. Thank you.

If you feel that this story should have a sequel, please let me know.

Enjoy,

Scarlett Slipper


	2. Chapter two

Gathered dark clouds stirred menacingly in the ebony atmosphere. Strong winds formed within seconds and a clash of thunder sounded from a mile away. In a mere moment a heavy downpour of raindrops battered towards the land. The leaves on the tress and the grass moved wildly against the storm's mighty strength.

The wind howled as the heavy rain pounded against the grayish building. A roaring thunderous sound escaped from above followed immediately by a lighting bolt.

Another flash of lighting embraced the stormy sky creating haunted shadowy images on the pavement. The building stood deathly still as a small shadow emerged from a hedge, trending against the massive water puddles that had been produced. Another bolt of lighting flash resulted identifying the creature, a snake. The snake slithered across the hard cement surface traveling towards safety. Steadily, the cold-blooded reptile reached its destination as it crawled under the cross wired fence of the property. The wind gushed as the small serpent made its way on the freshly cut lawn and slithering down a small hole. Safely underground it corralled into a tight round mass as its head stood still listening to the intensity of the fierce storm. A howling sound of a dog embraced the howling wind merging together. Suddenly sharp claws broke against the soil entering the snake's domain.

The snake raised its head for a strike at the unwelcome intruder, but there was no attack as the claws suddenly retreated. Satisfied that the invader had departed and would not return, the creature once again settled in for the long blustery night. The creature wondered why the inhabitants living there hated snakes. There certainly must have been an explanation of the continuous comments of hating snakes and killing them. Lowering its head once more, the small serpent listened to the unnerving storm.

The thunder once again roared as the darkened atmosphere erased the remaining brightness of the evening. Within the gray structure the evening lights began to flicker on, indicating that there was still several personal inside. A larger bright light shined from the second story of the building. A silhouette of a male figure crossed a large window, stopping for a split second to observe the furious weather conditions and rotated back towards the room. His eyes roamed around the largely spaced area. A small group had gathered in the room to retreat from the storm's wrath and to relax for the remainder of the evening. Three woman and four men, including him, occupied the room.

Two of the women sat comfortably in front of the large screen television sharing a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn. Both of the women had short haircuts, one was a curly brown while the other was straight with auburn coloring and looked as it had been "touched up" from the last time he had seen her. Both he noticed were wearing sweatshirts and jeans. If it had not been for the difference in their hairstyles, one would think they were playing the double mint twins. He smiled as he watched them fight for the remote control.

"I want to replay that part!" the brown haired one stated grabbing the remote.

"But we just watched it already three times!" the other one retorted as she retrieved back the remote.

He heard a sigh to his right; the third woman sat on one of the smaller sofas looking at the disagreeable pair as she slowly shook her head. She had put her book down at the sound of the small commotion, shaking her head once more she centered back on her novel. His eyes studied her for a short moment. Her long red hair came down to her waist, and was pulled back in a ponytail, as always. She was wearing a blue cotton shirt with white light weighted pants. In a swift movement her blue eyes caught his, she gave him a quick wink and continued on with her reading. " She does not miss a thing!" he thought. He then stared at the reading material in her hands, the book looked old and tattered. It looked leather bound with a hint of maroon color.

A chuckle coming from his left side made him turn to see the three men playing cards at the table. His mouth formed a small smirk while glancing at the men, how well he knew them now. Two of the men were dark haired while the third one was blond. All three were still in their everyday work outfits, if you could even call them that. He could easily close his eyes and still recall what each man wore. One of the dark haired men wore a dark green shirt with brown pants, as on his head wore a beret type of hat. The other wore a green and black shirt with black pants, next to him on the table rested a balaclava. The third's taste in colors was the opposite of his two teammates; he wore a mustard colored shirt with green pants. Though the others wore black boots, his was brown with golden strips parting in the middle and at the edges.

"Full house!" said the blond, "Read them and weep boys!" as he gently set his cards on the table and smiled at the two open mouthed participants.

"Not again Duke!" cried the one sitting next to him. " You getting too good for this game!"

"For once I agree with Flint here." replied the third.

"Well, you were the one who suggested a nice short card game Beach Head." stated Duke. "Is it my fault that I am such a fantastic, on the roll, none can beat me kind of player?"

Beach Head rolled his eyes. "Sure, but that does not mean you have to make the rest of us go to the poor house!"

"Good thing we are playing for Kisses then." said Flint.

"KISSES!" came the sudden shout of all three women in the room.

The men, including himself, turned towards the three women who were now wide eyed their expressions indicated pure shock. He heard the thump of the remote control as it fell on the carpeted floor.

"Flint! Are you telling us you are playing with Kissing in mind?" alleged the brown haired woman with her hands on her hips and a glare that could even chill a polar bear.

"No no! Lady Jaye, you have it all wrong!" Flint stood up with both arms in a surrender gesture.

"Then what _kind_ of kisses did you mean?" asked the other as she put a reassuring hand over Lady Jaye's shoulder.

"What he meant are _these_ kind of Kisses, Cover Girl." answered Duke as he dangled one of the Kisses. "Hershey Kisses! The chocolate kind." He then unwrapped the small chocolate and popped it in his mouth.

"Oh!" came the reply from the women. They now fully understood.

Without knowing it, he chuckled out loud. They all turned and stared at him. He still he could not believe that he was part of this team. He stood there looking at his comrades' faces as they allowed the scene to set in and they joined him in the laughter. He was truly lucky to have friends, co-workers, and teammates as them. He belonged with them. They all belonged to the special armed force group known as G.I. Joe. A clash of lightning disrupted his thoughts as the thunder once again roared through the dark night. A shiver went down his spine as the gusting wind battered against the building.

"Scared Falcon?" asked Duke as a small smile spread on his face.

"No, Big brother. I am not scared." Falcon answered. "I am no longer ten you know." He cringed at the thought. Thunderstorms always scared in as a child. But he was not a child anymore. He was a soldier. And not just any soldier but a Joe!

"Oh, stop teasing him Duke." came a reply from behind him.

"Sure, Scarlett! In ten to twenty, I will!" Duke replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Scarlett just closed her eyes and shook her head. Falcon barely heard her whisper "Men!" as she went back to her reading.

Suddenly another roaring thunder echoed from above the base, followed with a lighting strike. The lights dimmed, and then flickered and lastly they all embraced the darkness!

"Powers out!" said Flint

"Thank you for the brilliant detection Frank Hardy!" answered Beach Head.

"Oww!" cried out Lady Jaye. "Who stepped on me?"

"Sorry." came the reply of Cover Girl.

Something bumped and a large crash echoed in the room. "Drat, I think I broke the lamp." said Duke

"Flint? Where are you?" said Lady Jaye as she had begun to move towards Flint.

"Over here Jaye!" came the reply. "Hang on, I am coming." Flint's footsteps were heard. Then after a small pause "There! Found you!"

"Uhh.. Flint? Can you get your arm around off my shoulder?" requested Beach Head.

"Oops, sorry Beach!" Flint replied.

A large thump made them all jump. "Ouch, that is going to hurt tomorrow!" said Falcon.

"What happened?" asked Duke.

"I think I fell over the couch or Cover Girl.. Not sure.." came the answer

"Couch!" giggled Cover Girl. "I'll send it to the infirmary tomorrow for Doc to check its wounds, Duke."

"Ha ha! Very funny." came from somewhere down on the floor.

"Ok, everyone just hold still and do not move another inch!" Scarlett called out to the rest. "I am going to get a flashlight."

"How you going to find a flashlight in the dark, Red?" asked a perplexed Flint.

"Trust me, I can!" she answered.

The group heard her walk away from them, a small cringing sound could be heard, then some ruffling and small indications of thumps as several objects rattled.

"If she finds that flashlight, I am gonna kiss the ground she walks on!" said Beach Head as more sounds indicated that the red head was slowly returning to the group.

"Hey! If there is any kissing, it will be from me!" retorted Duke. Then they heard him painfully groan "My knee!"

"Sorry Duke, was that you I bumped into?" said Scarlett innocently.

"You did that on purpose!" he replied.

"Did not!" Scarlett replied but her voice signified something else. She continued to move as more sounds indicated that she was still on her mission. Another cringing sound came apparent, and a few thumps followed. "There! Mission accomplished!"

A dash of lighting entered through the window allowing them a split second of light and then it vanished. Scarlett then switched the flashlight on. "Well at least we can see a little now." she said.

"What took you so long?" came Falcon's voice from behind the couch.

"I had to put new batteries." she answered. She smirked at the surprised faces.

"How could you see in the dark?" asked Cover Girl. "Even Flint had trouble!" Looking over at the Warrant Officer, who had a dash of red in his cheeks.

"It pays to practice in the darkness sometime." Scarlett shrugged.

"So, now what?" asked Lady Jaye. "Guess both the main generators and back ups are out. I hope Breaker and Mainframe have them running soon."

"Well.. No movies for now.. How about cards?" suggested Duke

"No!" came the quick reply from the other six G. I. Joes. With Duke's winning streak they all knew that it would be hopeless to play a good game of cards tonight.

The rain continued to thunder down as the wind collided on the building. The six of them stood silent for a split moment. It was Scarlett who broke the silence.

"How about we look at this?" she asked. Scarlett walked towards the sofa where she was sitting before and picked up the old tattered leather bound book.

"What is that?" asked a puzzled Falcon, he had seen her with the book all evening, yet it never occurred to him to identify the article she was holding. "I noticed you were reading that before."

"Not reading, looking." Scarlett replied as the flashlight's light swayed back and forth. She returned and sat next to him on the large sofa. The others followed her lead as they sat around her and Falcon. Though Beach Head decided the couch was too comfortable for him, so he stationed himself next to Falcon on the floor and rested his backside against the wall.

Duke took a seat next to Scarlett. Did he then noticed the tattered article she was still holding. Suddenly, it occurred to him what that thing really was and his eyes became huge!

"How the bloody blue blazes did you find that? I thought I had buried it!" Duke stated in a louder voice than he intended.

"You did." Scarlett answered as he just convicted himself of the crime. " I simply had Mutt and Junkyard unbury it."

A groan came from the Warrant Officer, "I thought we took "care" of that thing." Flint had also just noticed the leather bound tattered book in the red head's hands. "Next time, I think we should just burn it."

"You wouldn't dare!" said Lady Jaye with a stunned look.

"What _is_ that thing anyway?" asked a still intrigued Falcon. For something so old and ready to fall apart, it certainly had Duke and Flint in an uproar. What could they have against this book? But before anyone could answer him, two glowing lights glided in the hall. The lights emerged in the room. There stood a rough looking soldier holding six camping lanterns.

"Glad to find you all here." said the soldier. "Mainframe and Breaker are still working on the generators Duke. They are not sure how long this blackout may last, so we are handing out lanterns." He set down two of the lanterns on the table.

"Thanks Gung Ho." replied Duke. "At least it is brighter in here now."

"Well, I will be off, need to give these four out to the others on this floor." With that he departed the room, as once more the glowing lights glided against the hall.

"Can someone answer my question?" repeated Falcon.

Instead of answering him, Scarlett simply held out the tattered item to him. "Here take a look for yourself."

Falcon studied the hardback tattered article in his hands. It looked like a regular looking book; the cover was lined with golden stripes. A simple title was engraved in the middle, **Album**. He glanced at Scarlett, and then at the others. Each had a different façade on, from amusement, glee, embarrassment, and fear. He slowly opened the front cover as four small paper articles stared at him. He knew now what this item really was. "But this is only a photo album." he announced.

"I swear we need to open a Detective Agency here." said Beach Head. "What was your first clue on solving the mystery?"

Ignoring Beach Head's comment, Falcon stared at the photographs before him. The first one on the right hand corner pictured a huge massive machine, with a diamond shaped crystal on its top. He recalled Duke once telling him of the Mass Device. In front of the Mass Device stood several of the Joe team's members. He identified Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes who was wearing his old costume and next to him Timber, the gray wolf. Stalker, an old Doctor wearing a lab coat, Breaker and two women. One had long blond hair and wearing a green jacket with same colored pants. While the other had long black hair and wore a pink miniskirt dress. Looking more carefully, he also noted that the black haired woman had rested her hand on Duke's arm.

"Who are these two women?" he asked looking at Duke.

"The blond one is me." came the answer from Cover Girl. "Ok! I admit it! I was blond once! Happy?" A few snickers escaped from the other Joes, they knew how she hated to admit that once her hair was a different color.

"What about the other one? The baroness?" he stated again.

"No comment." came the reply from Duke.

"Ok, fair enough." Falcon retorted. He clearly knew not to pressure Duke for answers. That and the small growl that came from Scarlett's vocal chords.

The one next to the Mass Device picture illustrated a large pole with overflowing green vines. Tangled in the vines was an angry face of Cobra Commander staring down at a smiling Roadblock as he tickled the Commander's feet. Next to Roadblock stood Duke, Scarlett, Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck, Gung Ho, Snake Eyes, and a curly blond girl wearing a cowboy hat. Falcon swallowed his "Who is this girl now?" question. He did not want to cause more trouble.

The bottom right picture showed a massive looking black square, maybe 3 stories tall with Flint and Lady Jaye in front of it. He recalled how Cobra's scheme of forming the Pyramid of Darkness by shutting down 3/4th of the worlds power. The Joes succeeded in the end, foiling another plot of the evil empire.

Next to the Pyramid picture was one with Ace, Lady Jaye, Alpine, Scarlett, Roadblock and Wild Bill wearing Space suits. Falcon turned to the second page. More pictures of the Joes stared back at him. One of Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Duke, Rock n Roll, and Recondo in the Jungle, another of Mutt hugging Junkyard in a dark creepy castle, another of a farmer and a 50 pound tomato. Next to that showed the entire team getting reinstated after COBRA had successfully disbanded them by developing Synthoids. Then one of Scarlett and Lady Jaye smiling along with a group of teenagers.

Flipping another page, Falcon noticed one of Gung Ho falling off a thoroughbred stallion. He heard Cover Girl utter a giggle. Apparently she must have been the photographer for G.H.'s embarrassing moment. But then one particular picture caught his eye. It was on the bottom left corner.

"Woah!" Falcon uttered. He was stunned at what the image illustrated. There, standing were three high ranked officers in tight ballet pink leotards, white tights, pink ribbons in their hair. The wardrobe completed with pink tutus and a nutcracker being held in the middle by all three. The rosy cheeks of Duke, Flint and Beach Head gazed back at him. Suddenly, a familiar noise surrounded him. He looked up from the ballet picture to find Scarlett, Lady Jaye and Cover Girl in uncontrollable laughter. Falcon had not noticed the Joe women fall into fits of amusement. His head turned towards the others, Duke was shaking his head, next to him Flint smacked his forehead, while Beach Head kept banging the back of his head against the wall.

"I thought we destroyed all of those copies!" whispered Flint.

"Guess we missed one. " Duke whispered back.

"You missed more than one." stated Lady Jaye between the giggles.

"What does she mean by that?" asked Beach Head.

"She means, there were more copies of these babies printed that you all thought so." said Scarlett as she gave a high five to her teammate.

"What happened?" asked Falcon. "Why on earth did Duke, Flint and Beach dress as Ballerinas?"

Flint groaned as his eyes closed. He did not want to recall that particular day. Lady Jaye gave him a nudge. "Well are you going to tell him or shall I?"

"Do we have to tell him?" asked Duke. Giggles were his only answer. Sensing defeat he rested his head back on the couch staring at the ceiling. He began to listen as Lady Jaye began the gruesome details.

Lady Jaye smiled as she began the tale. "Well it all started with a dare…."


	3. Chapter three

"I dare you to say that to my face!" Flint bellowed as he stared down at Lady Jaye's face.

"Alight.." Lady Jaye sneered. "You the most pompous pea brain egotistical male that ever walked the face of the Earth! There happy!"

"Pompous pea brain? Is that the best you got?" Flint said

"Oh, you want more buster?" Lady Jaye replied in a louder voice. "Not only are you a pompous pea brain but also dimwitted self-centered monkey reared jack ass!"

"Jack Ass! Fine, but you woman are the most psychopathic bitch I have met!" Flint yelled as his voice flamed.

Lady Jaye's eye narrowed with anger as she opened her mouth to retaliate to Flint, a new voice interrupted the conversation.

"Nice choice of words, Flint." stated Duke as he entered the room. He had come in to start the meeting but was greeted by the heated argument coming from his second in command and his girlfriend.

"Duke!" said a stunned Scarlett. She was sitting at the table near Flint and Lady Jaye leafing through some new Files.

"I did not mean it the way it came out…" Duke tried to explain, but it was too late. "Great now I am in trouble." He thought to himself. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Ok, lets start this meeting, Cobra is not going to waste time on the trying to steal the new formula developed for indestructible steel."

"Sure, if the Ass and the Bitch would sit down first." said a bored looking Beach Head.

"Couldn't wait to open your dirty mouth now, did you?" spoke a disgusted Cover Girl. They were both sitting next to Scarlett.

Beach Head narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ex-supermodel. "Kiss my fu…."

"ENOUGH!" bellowed an angry Duke. "Everyone just shut up and sit all your rears down!" Silence followed. Duke breathed a few deep breaths and then stated, "What will it take for you people to stop bickering!"

"How about giving this ass-less creature a new head?" asked Lady Jaye casually. "Or, you can let me transplant a new one as his old one has a few screws loose."

"Hey Jaye!" called out Cover Girl, "Do not forget to replace this knuckle brain's cranium too!" petting Beach's head. "Or, we could accidentally run them over with the Wolverine."

"You confided woman! I DARE you!" Beach Head snarled.

"That's it, that is the answer!" spoke up Scarlett.

"What! You are going to have them run over with the Wolverine?" asked a confused Duke.

"No, not that! Who am I? Cobra Commander?" Scarlett then explained. "I was meaning the dare part."

"Oh…"

"What do you mean, Scarlett?" asked Lady Jaye; she was intrigued on what the counter intelligent had in mind.

All eyes turned towards the red head. "Well, considering what a lovely vocabulary we all have here. I suggest that we resolve this matter with a dare. We will team up in two groups, Team A and Team B, the first person who utters a unwelcome word will loose for their entire team."

"Huh?" said Flint, " You just lost me for a second there, Red."

"Geee.. That is surprising!" Lady Jaye responded with rolling her eyes.

"I think I understand." said Duke. "She means that if one of the people in the team says some kind of swear word, then the whole team looses. Am I correct?"

"Correct." nodded Scarlett

"Ok, fine we play this little dare game you have in mind, but what do the winners get? And more importantly, what happens to the losers" asked Beach Head.

Scarlett shrugged, she had not thought on that part, yet.

Suddenly Lady Jaye snapped her fingers, "I got it!" All eyes turned towards her. "How about the battle of the sexes? Team A will consist of Duke, Beach and muttonhead. Team B will consist of Scarlett, Cover Girl and yours truly. If Team A looses, I have three costumes from my Broadway days in my closet"

"What kind of costumes?" asked a narrowed eyed Flint.

Lady Jaye smiled with a twinkle in her eyes. "Three identical costumes from my Sugar Plum Fairy role."

"Tutus! You going to have the men wear the tutus!" said an excited Cover Girl.

"HELL NO!" yelled Beach Head. "I am not getting into a Ballerina outfit!"

"Wait, what if we win?" asked Duke. "What then?" He defiantly did not want to be caught in front of his men wearing a leotard, much less a pink tutu.

"Here's the deal." spoke up again Scarlett. "If you men win, then you can make us do whatever you want for one whole day."

"The whole day! Anything we want?" asked Flint. "You mean anything goes?"

"Scarlett! Are you mad? They will have us running in our undergarments all day knowing their inferior thinking." cried out Lady Jaye

"Chicken?" Flint smirked at Lady Jaye.

"OK, fine! Buster! If we win, you get to wear those Ballerina outfits for the full day, and every time the intercom blasts the Nutcracker Suite, all three of you will dance to the music in ballet movements only! Now who is chicken!"

"Everyone agreed?" asked Scarlett. "The first team who utters an unwanted word looses the dare and gets the dire consequences."

"So the unwanted words are…?" asked Cover Girl

"Easy, bubble brains.. All curse words such as the "A" word, "F" words, "B" words, Hell, "S" words and the "C" word." explained Beach Head.

"The "C" word?" asked a confused Duke. "Cobra has their own curse word now too?"

"I think he means the word that looks like the nice brown presents that Junkyard and Timber leave around." answered Scarlett. "Ok, now that we are all in the same terms and agreements, are you all ready?"

"So when do we start?" asked Flint.

"NOW!" came the answer.

"Prepare to wear Ballet slippers boys!" chuckled Lady Jaye

"Not on your life! Sweetheart!" said Beach Head. "Be warned! The battle is on!"

"We will see who gets the last laugh." spoke Cover Girl as she stood up and began to walk out the door following Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Flint and Beach Head. Suddenly a whistle became heard and all the Joes turned towards the sound.

"Ehh.. I know you are all ready for battle here, but you forgot one tad little thing." Duke stated.

"And what is that?" asked Flint.

"We are supposed to be in a meeting!" snarled Duke. They all looked at each other sheepishly and returned to their seats.

-------------------------

A few hours later, the three high ranked members of the Joe team sat in Duke's office. Beach Head and Flint paced in front of Duke's desk. Duke sat behind his desk, with one hand resting on his chin.

"So.." He broke the silence that had enveloped into the room. "How are we going to make one of them say.. Eh….the "bad" word? Any ideas?"

"How about we annoy them til one of them spits it out?" asked Flint.

"No, that won't work. These three are good. We just transfer this like a real battle." answered Beach Head.

"Care to explain?" asked Duke, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, like Cobra…. Let's say, they got their strengths and their weakness. We know these three, like the back of our hands, correct?" The other two men nodded. He then continued. "Each of these ladies holds strengths and weaknesses. So we attack where they least expect it. Their weaknesses."

"So what will be the attack?" Flint asked to Beach Head.

Beach Head gave a small evil guffaw as he leaned against Duke's desk and said. "So this is what we are gonna do……"

--------------------

A few doors down, the three G.I. Joe women sat in Scarlett's office.

"Blast!" said Lady Jaye, "I wish I had Breaker bug Duke's office, then we could at least hear what they are saying."

"You mean cheat?" asked Scarlett with a grin.

"Yes, something like that."

"So anyone know what we plan against them? I for one do not want to roam in my underwear all day." said a conservative Cover Girl.

The other two turned towards their friend, "You?" they spoke at the same instant as they all shared a laugh.

Scarlett then picked up her phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, someone on the other end answered. "Hi, it's Scarlett. I am going to need you for a special mission. Are you up to it?" there was a pause as the person over the phone said something but could barely be audible. "Ok, great! I will meet you at 1400 hrs." She hung up the phone.

"What exactly are you planning?" asked Cover Girl. She could see the seriousness in Scarlett's face.

"Let's just say, I may have an idea…" Scarlett grinned. "This is what we should do……….."

------------------------

The next morning the entire team assembled in front of Beach Head's obstacle course. He had woken everyone at 0600 hrs for his annual PT obstacle course race. The Joes were split in four teams, the red, blue, green and yellow. The race would consist of various obstacles including a wall, robes slides, tunnels, and tires.

"Morning sleepy heads!" spoke a proud Beach Head. He knew how each of them despised days such as this. A groan escaped from the crowd. He ignored it and continued on. "The team who finishes the course in the least amount of time is the winner. You got 15 minutes each to complete the course. The teams that do not complete the course in 15 minutes will have 3 weeks of extra PT in the morning and in the afternoon." Another groan followed his speech.

"Hey Beach! What do the winners get? A free sundae?" asked someone on the far side.

"Quiet Sailor!" answered a narrowed eyed Beach Head.

"Quiet? Did he just say the word "quiet" to Shipwreck?" said a confused Gung Ho.

"Yeah, usually he says to him, Shut up!" retorted Roadblock "What was that about?"

Someone snickered close to them. Both men turned to see the female Joes wearing straight faces.

Beach Head spoke again, " Ok, Team Red, get ready to go first. Over the wall through the shooting range, then tunnels cross over the tires and tackle the…." His sentence was not completed.

"Uh.. Beach?" asked Shipwreck

"What is it now swabby?" answered an annoyed Beach Head.

"What tires?" asked the sailor

"What do you mean _what_ tires?" Beach Head answered as his temper flared.

Beach Head turned towards the course; he uttered a low sounding growl. He had not noticed til that instant that the 50 tires he had for the course were missing. " WHAT THE……" he screamed, yet he closed his mouth before another word could escape. The word he so wanted to scream out, yet he controlled himself. But out loud he said, "What happened to the tires? I checked the course myself at 0400hrs!" No one answered him.

"Ok, fine! Forget those tires." his anger began to consume him. "Just skip that obstacle. Forget the tires, after the tunnels go straight to the rope obstacle, then to the…" again his sentence was interrupted.

"Umm… Beach?" asked Gung Ho.

"Now what!" growled Beach Head. He closed his eyes, "Please do not tell me that the ropes are not there?"

"No, they are there." replied Gung Ho.

"Good.. Then as I was saying…" he continued on.

"They are just cut." Gung Ho stated.

"They are WHAT!" Beach Head angrily turned and walked towards the course. Closing in towards his favorite obstacle he noticed that the ropes had been chopped mostly off. Anger consumed him, "I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?"

Everyone held their breaths as they watched Beach Head storm back towards them. They waited for his explosion, as his face was redder than even Scarlett's hair.

"Here comes the Mother of all yells!" whispered Gung Ho. They knew Beach Head's yelling meant included foul language. But nothing came. Beach Head trembled as he swallowed the words he so desperately wanted to scream. He heard a snicker from the group, he turned to see the girls with small grins. Then it dawned on him. "Those little minxes!" he thought. Now he understood what happened to his tires and his ropes. They almost had him. Well two can play this game. Breathing deeply, he turned to the group. "Ok, we got small problem that would be fixed by tomorrow, dismissed til tomorrow 0600 hrs!" He turned and stormed towards Duke's office.

Watching Beach Head fled in anger, the rest of the team stood silently still.

"Was that Beach Head or a Synthoid?" asked a scared Shipwreck. "I thought we were all going to get it. He did not even punish anyone, and that is something he worships."

"Nope, think that was the real Beach." answered Gung Ho "But a Beach Head with no cursing?"

"I wish he did curse!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Cover Girl with Lady Jaye and Scarlett.

"What! Am I hearing right?" said Gung Ho. "You _wanted _Beach to curse?"

"Yep." came the reply.

Shipwreck then spoke, "Great! We are not being taken over by Synthoids, we are being invaded by the pod people!"

The three Joe women giggled as they left for their next part of the plan.

--------------------

"Lady Jaye, ready for part two?" whispered Cover Girl through a small microphone.

"Ready." replied Lady Jaye as she spotted Cover Girl behind the Motor Pool. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive Lady Jaye." came the voice of Scarlett's in her earpiece. "You know it will work, you know him better than both Cover Girl and I. Besides, you have the upper hand as you know how to push his buttons." Lady Jaye sighed as she heard Cover Girl give a small hiccup from swallowing a giggle.

"Ok.. Hope this does not backfire." she said.

Suddenly she heard Cover Girl say. "Dog chow at 10 o'clock." Sure enough Lady Jaye noticed Flint walking with Duke who were both in deep discussion. She wondered what they were talking about. Flint caught sight of her and was heading her way.

"Show time." she whispered into the microphone.

"Ok, ready Flint?" said Duke. "Let's test your microphone."

"Testing 1 ..2.." Flint spoke into the piece. "Beach can you hear me?"

"Loud, clear and ugly!" came the reply from Beach Head. "You better get them Flint, I want my revenge!" Both Duke and Flint chuckled, they had heard about the obstacle course incident.

"Ok, here goes nothing, wish me luck." said Flint. "Oh and Duke, if this backfires, you are so dead." Flint then turned and walked towards Lady Jaye. He gulped as he almost came near her. "Hey Lady Jaye!" he called out. "Wait a second, we need to talk."

"Oh?" came her reply. "I thought you were still mad."

"Naw.. Not really." he replied. She gave him a sweet smile as he thought, "Good she is buying it." Taking a deep breath he said outloud. "Beach just stormed into my office saying.. No more like yelling at the top of his lungs about some type of disaster at the obstacle course. Now you wouldn't know anything about that? Would you?"

"Me?" Lady Jaye replied innocently, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Yes, you. Did you have something to do with the missing tires and cut ropes?" He hated those words as they came out, but he rather have an angry Jaye for a few weeks then to play Ballerina.

"Are you accusing me of arson?" Lady Jaye's voice turned icy.

"Ehh.. Well… " Flint stuttered.

"You ARE!" she said with her voice raised an octave higher. "Well, for your information I am not going to say who did it."

"So you know who is behind it." Flint narrowed his eyes as he caught her arm.

"Let go of me…you.. you…overgrown barbarian!" anger started to rise within her.

"Barbarian! Ha! That the best you can do?" Flint smirked down at her angry features.

Lady Jaye opened her mouth to retaliated but stopped short. He was trying to make her loose the dare. Well, she thought two could play this little match.

"Yes, it the best I can do." she said playing along. "Anyway, can you let go of my arm, I need to start getting ready."

"Ready?" Flint asked, "for what?"

"Well, not that it is none of your business, but remember my old friend Derek from _Fiddler on the Roof_? Well, it turns out he is in town premiering in _The King and i _and he called up to say hello and see if we could have a get together. I'm off to meet him tonight after the show."

Lady Jaye watched Flint's face change from relaxed, to stun, then dramatically change to anger as she threw the bombshell.

"DEREK!" Flint yelled. "You are going to go meet up with that….that womaniser!"

"And if I am?" replied Lady Jaye.

"I am not going to let you go see that son of a ….." Flint suddenly stopped short. He had almost blew it! Darn it, she was good, too good.

Lady Jaye stood there. "You were saying?"

"Fine go see your tootsie wootsie maniacal friend! Why should I care? You both belong in the nuthouse!" Flint squirmed, here it comes, he could see her features turning into a volcano.

"Nuthouse! You are the one who needs the asylum!" she yelled back.

"You f….." she paused for a split second before she uttered.." You floobagooble!"

"Floobagooble?" Flint stared confused.

"Yeah! Floobagooble! And for your information it is not even a curse! I made it up! Excuse me I am late for my date!" after saying those word's she twisted around and headed back towards the motor pool leaving a openmouthed Flint behind.

Lady Jaye stormed back towards the Motor Pool. But before she rounded the corner, a hand reached out for her shoulder and yanked her inside.

"You ok, Jaye?" asked Cover Girl. "We know he did not mean what he was saying."

"How do you know?" asked a puzzled Lady Jaye

"It was a set up!" Scarlett announced. "Cover Girl spotted Beach Head on the roof of the men's quarters. And Duke was close by, too close by. All of us had the same idea."

"You mean both Duke and Beach were listening in the conversation?" Lady Jaye said with a small angry tone. "Oh wait til this dare is over! He will learn a few new words coming out of my mouth!"

"Like floobagooble?" said Cover Girl in a giggle. They all burst into laughter.

"Wait til he discovers that Derek is a figment of my imagination!" Lady Jaye said between the laughter.

From nowhere, Clutch dashed in. "Cover Girl! I am been looking everywhere for you! Quickly, run to the rec room!"

"Why? What happened?" asked Cover Girl.

"You are not going to like it, so you better hurry." and with that Clutch ran out of Motor Pool.

All three of the women stood in silence for a split second and then followed Clutch out the door.

-----------------------

Beach Head sat in the chair in the rec. room reading a magazine. He gave an evil smile, as he thought, "Oh revenge is so sweet." From a few feet away from him stood an openmouthed Cover Girl, followed by Scarlett and Lady Jaye.

"What the h…" Cover Girl began to say, but was quickly stopped by Scarlett's and Lady Jaye's hands covering her mouth.

"Hey, that is cheating!" called out Beach Head. But his voice was barely heard from the other Joes talking in the room.

"Oh, this is low!" said Cover Girl. She stood there stunned as her eyes glanced around the room. All around was her face, but not the face of the present Cover Girl, but the image of the Cover Girl of the past. There were blown up pictures from her model days, hundreds of magazines with her face swept around the room. She heard several Joes whistling. Anger started to rise within her. "I am so going to kill him!" she stated as she caught sight of the smiling Beach Head.

"You could do that.."said Lady Jaye, "Or you could pretend this does not affect you and grow under your skin."

Beach Head stood up from his chair, lay his magazine down and walked towards the women. "So, like how I decorated the place? Would you care to read a magazine? We got plenty here!"

"No thanks Beach Head. I already have read all those magazines, the model does look a bit familiar. Don't you agree?" she looked into his eyes.

"umm yeah.." said Beach Head, this was not the reaction he was looking for. Cover Girl should have been yelling at him by now.

Cover Girl then turned and said to the other Joes, "Hey everyone! Enjoy those magazines! And if you want an autograph for a friend, let me know!" With that she departed the room, followed by Scarlett and Lady Jaye winking at a stunned Beach Head.

Blast! Beach Head mumbled to himself, taking out his walkie-talkie, he spoke, "Flies are coming, set up operation web!"

"Got it Beach!" answered Flint's voice.

--------------------------

Scarlett opened the door to her office, clicking on the lightswitch. But none of the lights flickered on. "Odd.. I thought they fixed the broken light by now." She took one small step into the darkened room. She felt a small object fall on her head as she stepped further into her office. But as Scarlett raised her hand to throw the small thing off, she felt some type of sticky cotton like substance from above. Trying to shake off the new object off, she twisted her body around and slipped on the floor.

"What is going on? What the…." Scarlett's hand felt more smaller objects in the darkeness. The small articles felt fuzzy and soft. More of the sticky substance surrounded her body. From nowhere, one large fuzzy object fell on her lap, it took her seconds to realize what kinds of "items" had taken over her office as she let out a blood-chilling scream.

"Scarlett?" she heard Lady Jaye from the other side of the door. "You ok?"

"Don't come in!" she tried to warn them, but it was too late as both Lady Jaye and Cover Girl landed on the floor next to her, covered with the same sticky substance and fuzzy creatures.

"Ughh.. What is this stuff?" cried out Cover Girl.

"Oh yuck.. These feel like spiders." said Lady Jaye as she held one of the fuzzy creatures in her hands

A scream followed that remark.

"Sorry, you both know how I feel about those things." said a terrified Scarlett.

Another load of fuzzy creatures landed on the three Joes resulting into more shrieks.

"Three guesses who left these 'presents'". said Lady Jaye.

"I am going to kill them!" said a more controlled Scarlett as she tried to stand up but slipped again from the gooey mess. "Umpph" She became highly irrated from this ordeal. "This is low, even for them! Attacking a phobia! Wait til I get my hands on them, those mules, those immature creatures that walk on the face of the earth, those nincompoops, those..those childish..those..as…" Her sentence was stopped short as another spider fell on her lap. With an annoyance gesture, she picked up the spider and threw it out of the door. It must had hit someone outside as they heard a small cry of "ouch".

All three froze, they knew who exactly was outside. A hand reached in from the doorway and clicked on the lights. As the lights flickered on, an amused faced Duke, Flint and Beach Head walked in the room. The lights had been rigged all along.

"You were saying, Red?" asked Flint.

Duke walked towards Scarlett, reaching down he picked up the large spider that was resting on its back next to his teammate. He opened the spider's midsection and produced a small recorder. The three Joe women gapped at the device. The men had recorded the whole scene.

"Well, we did hear her say one nice unwelcome word!" Beach Head said, "Cannot wait to hear it again!"

Scarlett, Lady Jaye and Cover Girl stood deathly still. Did they just loose the battle?

"But I did not say any unwelcome word!" Scarlett protested.

"Yeah, Yeah, that is your story.. We will see what the tape says in the end." said Beach Head. "Get ready to be in underwear tomorrow ladies!"

Rewinding the tape, Duke then pushed the play button. The entire scene was heard over the recorder. They heard, the screams, the conversation and lastly they heard.. "those..those..childish..those." click! The tape had ended!

"Nooooo…..!" said Beach Head. "We almost had them!" slamming his fist on the desk.

"But she did not say a curse Beach Head!" stated Cover Girl. "you never had us!"

"Fine, that is your story." retorted Beach Head.

"It is the TRUTH!" Cover Girl said angrily. "You son of a …" immediately she shut her mouth. "Tried to trick me again, didn't you! Well it will not work!"

Beach Head sneered. "We will see who wins in the end."

"Um.. I know we are in battle here.. But someone can please tell me how many fake spiders are in this room." Scarlett's voice was heard a little shaky.

"I guess a few hundred.." said Flint with a large grin.

"You alright there, Scarlett?" asked Lady Jaye. Her reply was a small nod. "What I want to know is what is all this sticky stuff! Not real webs I presume."

"Cotton Candy." answered Duke making all three women turn green.

"Ok, I think we can call this a draw, we all know that there is no way any of us is going to curse. So how about it? Truce?"

The others stared at him.

"I guess…" said Flint but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in!" said Scarlett.

"There you are! I been looking all over the base for…" Breaker stopped in midsentence as he discovered the scene before him. "What are happened in here? COBRA?" he asked as his eyes noticed an enormous amount of fake spiders, the gooey substance, Scarlett, Cover Girl and Lady Jaye on the floor, Duke with a large spider in his hands, Flint sitting on the desk and Beach Head shaking his head.

"Long story." said Duke. "You were saying you were looking for us?"

"Emm.. Yeah Duke. But I am not sure you want to see the paper in front of the girls."

"What paper?" asked Flint.

"This one, it is all over the base Duke." handing the white piece of paper in his hands to his C.O.

Duke took the parchement while Flint and Beach Head moved closer to examine the sheet. Their eyes wided in shock as their jaws dropped. Their mouths opened and at the same instant uttered.

"What the HELL!" said Duke.

"What asshole took those!" said Beach Head.

"Who ever did this, I am going to kill that son of a bitch!" said Flint.

"How did they get these pictures of us in the shower!" said Duke

"Who ever did is a professional!" said Beach Head, "No one can get into my apartment unnoticed!"

"They took my bad side!" said Flint.

Still observing the paper that said, "Rub a Dub Dub, Three Joe men in the Tub!" they did not noticed the laughter that had surrounded them. Duke, Flint and Beach Head glanced from the paper to the girls on the floor and then to each other. It took seconds for them to realize they had lost the dare. They turned to Breaker, who was ready to retreat out of the door.

"Thanks Breaker!" said Scarlett as she stood up from the sticky mess.

"Anytime, Red!" Breaker answered as he escaped before any of the men threw a spider at him or anything else.

"YOU!" said Duke, Flint and Beach Head at the same moment.

Scarlett nodded as Lady Jaye and Cover Girl tried to stand up but bawled over with laughter.

"Well boys… there are three nice Ballerina costumes ready for you in my closet!" said Lady Jaye.

"Oh, this is going to be priceless!" said Cover Girl.

"Let's go Duke." Scarlett said as she pulled her friend's arm leading him out of the room. A small "Help me." escaped from Duke's mouth as he turned to see both Flint and Beach Head hitting their heads on Scarlett's wall.

----------------------------

"Hubba Hubba!" called out Shipwreck.

Beach Head gave him a growl as he entered the room. Duke and Flint followed.

"This thing is itchy." stated Duke as he looked down at his pink leotard.

"How do women walk in these? Or even dance for that matter." said Flint.

"Nice legs there, Flint!" called out Gung Ho.

"Hey Duke! Anyone tell you that you look good in pink?" called out Stalker.

"This is going to be a long day." said Duke as he heard snickers coming from a bunch of Greenshirts.

"I love those tutus!" called out Roadblock.

"Who does your hair Beach Head?" called out Rock n Roll.

From the intercom, the sounds of the Nutcracker Suite blasted.

"Show time boys!" called out Lady Jaye, as she sat with Scarlett and Cover Girl enjoying their victory.

Duke, Flint and Beach Head gave a huge groan as they started twirling, skipping and pointing their toes in various positions. They held hands as they danced in the circle. With hands over their heads, they danced on their tiptoes and then glided across the room.

-------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------------------ ---------------------------- -------------

" …and they danced most of the day too! Breaker and the guys kept playing the Nutcracker Suite ever chance they got." said Lady Jaye as she finished the story.

Falcon grinned. "Now that was some story! Does Mom have a copy of this picture?" looking at his older Brother.

"Send her one, and you will find yourself in KP duty for the rest of your life!" came the answer.

"Ok, point taken." Falcon said as thunder echoed from outside.

"The storm is getting worse out there." said Scarlett.

"Glad we are indoor then, huh." said Flint.

"Hey Falcon, are we going to look at the same page forever?" asked Cover Girl.

Falcon smiled as he turned the page over, another set of pictures with smiling Joes beamed at him. One picture showed all the Joes that were in front of him holding a golden seashell, the one next to that had Flint holding a medieval sword. While another pictured Duke, Cover Girl, Shipwreck, Mutt and Junkyard, and Dusty in front of a Christmas tree. But the next picture really caught his attention. In front of a row of sky strikers he saw several Joes holding small rectangular sponges and held buckets, while on the ground he saw some sort of green blobby mess.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"Oh, not that day!" said Flint. "I still try to erase it from my memory bank."

Duke grinned, "Want to tell him that one Flint? I dare you!"

A groan escaped from the Warrant Officer's throat. "Ha ha, very funny!" Flint closed his eyes for a split second as the rain rattled on the windows.

Taking a deep breath, he began. "Well it all started……"


	4. Chapter four

"Duke! You cannot be serious!" stated Flint as he walked into Duke's office. "How could you leave today? Of all days!"

Duke chuckled, "Sorry Flint, but I rather be at Hawk's meeting in Washington then stay here."

"Chicken.." Flint mumbled under his breath.

"I do not want to live a repeat of last year's Annual Day. I still am getting rid of those headaches, not to mention the smell coming from the 3rd drawer." said Duke with a frown. " You know how they get on this day, and I do not blaim them. They have to celebrate somehow on the day G.I. Joe was formed."

Duke turned and looked out at the window. Already he saw some of the members in small groups near the Motor Pool. "I wonder how they will start the festivities this year? What was that song that came on the intocom last year?"

Flint joined his friend at the window. "Something from the _King and I _or was it from _West Side Story_? I keep mixing those two musicals up."

"Well, hopefully they will mostly behave this year and not trash the cafeteria" said Duke, "Beach Head is lucky he is on a mission, at least he is not going to get locked up in the closet again."

"Yeah, lucky dog. I rather face Cobra then stay here today." said Flint.

Duke gave another grin, "Well, you can always count on Lady Jaye and the girls. At least they can help some control over the rest of the men. I think last year they escaped to the spa."

"I do not think that will be possible Duke." said Flint in a small voice.

"What? Why?" Duke asked perplexed.

"Cause they just initiated the beginning of the festivities!" answered the warrant officer.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked again Duke as he looked towards Flint.

"Cause they just raised our boxers up the flag pole!" came the reply as Flint pointed out the window.

Duke turned towards the spot Flint's finger directed. His face turned ashly white as he watched Lady Jaye, Scarlett and Cover Girl pulling the rope of the Flag's pole as three pairs of boxer shorts swayed in the air.

"Looks like the girls just crossed over to the dark side." mumbled Duke

"Help me! Master Sergeant, you are my only hope!" begged Flint.

"Sorry, but I got a nice long meeting with Hawk." said Duke. "I wonder who is the owner of those happy smily face boxers? Yours?"

"I thought they were yours!" said Flint.

They looked at each other as they both stated, "Beach Heads'!"

Moving across the room, Duke grabbed his briefcase and started out the door, " Well, enjoy the day Flint!"

"You owe me big time!" came the reply

Flint watched Duke turn the corner of the hallway, as he ducked an incoming water balloon. "This is going to be one of those days." he sighed as he walked out of the room.

---------------------

"Ambush! Take cover!" Scarlett yelled towards Lady Jaye and Cover Girl as small round objects fell at her feet.

"This way!" bellowed Lady Jaye ducking before two more round objects hit the pavement exploding into water puddles.

"Hurry you two, before you both get soaked!" cried out Cover Girl behind a jeep. "Ack! They got me" as water dripped down her features. "You going to pay for that Shipwreck!"

Lady Jaye and Scarlett ducked behind the jeep seconds before another attack of water balloons hit the vehicle. Peeping from under the vehicle, Lady Jaye noticed six pairs of legs. "Looks like six of them, Ace, Shipwreck, Mutt, Footloose, Dusty and Ripcord. Ready with the ammunitions?"

"Ready." whispered both Scarlett and Cover Girl as they held three buckets of water balloons.

From the other side of the jeep, the six Joes stood ready to "fire" their water balloons.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are!" cried out Shipwreck.

"Please, do not tell us you are playing the poor Damsils in Distress card!" said Ace.

"Show yourselves ladies! There is no place to go." spoke Dusty.

"Like, yeah man.. I mean woman.. We are not going to get you wet, much." came from Footloose as the men all snickered.

"Are you sure, they are somewhere near by?" asked Ripcord.

"Positive, my nose knows!" answered Mutt.

"Yeah, I saw them near the Flag pole before." Ace stated as he looked up ansd saw the high ranked officers underwear flapping in the breeze.

A redheaded figure shot up from behind the jeep as she yelled, "FIRE!"

"Duck and cover! They are counterattacking!" cried out Ace as three water balloons hit him on the chest.

Lady Jaye and Cover Girl had already emerged from their hiding spot as they threw countless water balloons towards their comrads.

"Take that you sailor!" yelled Cover Girl as she succeeded on hitting her target.

"Ahhh! I am melting! Melting!" cried out Shipwreck, as he lowered himself towards the ground pretending. "My world.. My beautiful Joe world!"

"Shipwreck! Get up and help me throw at them more of these babies!" Dusty called out, but before he could throw one of his balloons, four balloons hit him on the side.

"Gotcha!" said Scarlett with pleasure in her face, but instantly ducked from Dusty's counterattack. "Missed me!"

Lady Jaye appeared from the backside of the Jeep, and threw several balloons towards her targets.

"Footloose! Look out!" cried out Ripcord, but it was too late as both as he and Footloose became a soggy mess.

"Two birds with one stone!" said Lady Jaye, but in that moment got hit with three balloons from Mutt.

"He he.. Got you Lady!" stated a proud Mutt.

"Lady Jaye!" cried out Cover Girl, "We got enough ammo for one good hit." as she ducked from Shipwreck's balloons exploding near her.

"Ok, on my mark, we are taking down the canine leader!" said Lady Jaye. She got ready to give the order when she heard a small shriek coming from Scarlett's direction.

"Aghh…" cried out Scarlett as water dripped down from her hair to the pavement. "This means payback!" she grunted towards Mutt.

"Ready! Aim! FIRE!" Lady Jaye bellowed as all three Joe women threw the rest ammunitions at Mutt.

Mutt stood there with his mouth open until reality set in. But before he could stand back from the incoming balloons, a large mass smashed into him sending him sideways across the ground. Mutt opened his eyes to peak on the heavy object standing on his chest.

"Junk!" Good Boy! Saving your Master, two steaks for you tonight." he said patting the dog.

"Ace, we are out of Ammo!" cried out Shipwreck.

"Right, ok.. Then…. Joes retreat!" cried out Ace and he and the rest ran back towards the Motor Pool.

Lady Jaye stepped on top of the vechile as she yelled towards them "I'll get you Mutt! You and your little dog too!" shaking her fist in the air as a giggle escaped her throat.

------------------------

Flint slowly opened the office door, he was ready for anything. He recalled how last year, Duke was welcomed with a pie smashed in his face. He carefully peaked inside moving his head left and right, roaming his eyes around the space. Satisfied there was noone in his office, he quickly stepped inside and locked the door. "Phew! Safe for the time being." he muttered to himself.

Moving behind the desk, he noticed that the mail had arrived early. Sitting down, he flipped through the envelops on his desk. One was from Duke.

_Flint, _

_Take two of these and call me in the morning. _

Attached to the message were two aspirins. "Haha!" he said outloud.

The second envelope indicated it came from Lady Jaye.

_Do not forget to meet me at the Sky Strikers at 4._

_Jaye._

He chuckled at the note, guess she still wants to show me the new moves Ace taught the team he thought.

The third envelope was more buggly, opening it he discovered a CD. The small CD had one title written on it, _The Nutcracker Suite. _He groaned as he threw the CD in the garbage next to him.

Opening the last envelope he found a small note.

_Was in your office before but you were not home. Left you a present._

_Cobra Commander._

"Cobra Commander? What?" said Flint speaking outloud. "This must be a joke." How could the Cobra Commander sneak on the base and in his office? Impossible! A noise made him jump as the phone rang. He picked up the receiver and said into the piece. "Flint here." there was some static in the background as he heard….

" Thissssss is Cobra Commander. I forgot my ssssssstapler in your office Flint. Care to ssssssssend it back?"

"Shipwreck!" he bellowed in the receiver. "You do one loosey impression on the Commander!" There was laughter on the other end followed by a dead tone. He closed his eyes for a moment. "This is going to be a long day and it is only 1000 hrs!" he thought. A bumping sound caught his attention, it sounded coming from inside his closet.

Getting up from behind his desk, he moved towards the bumping sound. He heard a thud, as something in there fell over. His face was full of confussion. Carefully he opened the closet door and his eyes immediately grew wide identifying the bumping sounds. "No!" he called out but alas it was too late as the occupant in the closet turned around, raised its tail and extreaded a most fowl odor Flint ever imagined.

"Blast!" Flint said as the skunk turned around getting set for another attack. Flint's eyes wided as he charged out of the room. "I am going to have Shipwreck take extra PT for a year for this!" He stormed down the hall and exited the building. "But first a change of clothes and a long tomato shower."

Flint walked out of the building just as a few Greenshirts sniffed the air, did an about turn and ran. He sighed, "Oh, this is just dandy!" The sound of the upcoming vechile caught his attention. Looking up he saw the Joe women drive up to him.

"Flint!" cried out Lady Jaye from the drivers seat "How is your da….." she stopped in mid sentence as she sniffed the air.

"Yuck.. What is that smell?" asked a wrinkled nose Cover Girl from the backseat. It took a few seconds to realize that the smell centered around the Warrant Officer.

"Looks.. I mean smells like you just met Spirits' friend Flint." said Scarlett in the passenger seat covering her nose.

"Spirit has a pet skunk?" Flint asked her.

"No, it is wild. She just hangs around the base once in a while." she replied.

Flint then noticed that all of the Joe women were soaked. "What happened to you three?" he asked.

"Let's just say injuries in the battlefield." answered Scarlett.

"Oh.. Well then..I am off for a long shower. Can you keep an eye on things?" he asked her again.

"Sure. But I am not skunk sitting." Scarlett replied with a grin.

"Funny..very funny!" Flint groaned as he turned and started walking towards the men's quarters.

"Hey Pepe!" called out Lady Jaye behind him, "Do not forget 4 o'clock!"

He waved behind his back making the girls snicker.

"Now what?" said Lady Jaye. "You think we will get in trouble?"

"Well, Flint did tell me to keep an eye on things." Scarlett smiled at Lady Jaye.

"Well, in that case!" said Cover Girl "On to the Motor Pool! Miss Jaye! We do not want to miss the action."

Hitting the gas, the vechile set off for the Motor Pool.

------------------------

A large crash sounded inside the Motor Pool as some grayish dust rose from its aftermath.

"Hey this one works great Clutch!" stated Gung Ho as he put a jeep on reverse and drove on the other side of the Motor pool. "Think we got enough?"

Clutch walked towards near another jeep as he rolled a tire. "Good. Now help me tie these last tires on this jeep."

Gung Ho got out of the jeep and assisted Clutch with the last tires. "This is going to be fun."

"Yes, just as long Flint does not find out and spoil the fun." said Clutch.

A shadow walked towards the doorway of the Motor Pool. Both Clutch and Gung Ho held their breaths, thinking it was the second in command. But as the shadow came closer they breathed a sign of relief as Shipwrecked entered.

"Ok, I think we are ready outside." he said as pointed out towards the field, where a circle made of haystacks had been built. "All set with the last of the jeeps?"

"All set." replied Clutch. "Just be careful will you, I do not want Duke or Flint on my toes for wrecking ten G.I. Joe vehicles."

"No problem!" Shipwreck said with a wink. "Come on, the others are waiting."

Clutch and Gung Ho got into the jeeps and drove them out. A loud cheer enveloped them as the neared the haystack ring. Most of the Joes had arrived. Getting out of the Jeeps, the two Joes spotted the other Jeeps all set for the battle. Each jeep had a ring of tires around their frames.

"Ok! Joes!" said Gung Ho. "Who is ready for some fun!" as the crowed roared. "We got ten drivers and ten passengers. Clutch with Blowtorch, Footloose with Dusty, Mutt with Snake Eyes, Alpine and Bazooka, Shipwreck with Ace, Quick Kick with Wild Bill, Ripcord and Sparks, Wetsuit with Leatherneck, Airtight and Barbeque. And of course yours truly with Lifeline. Clutch care to continue on the rules?"

Clutch nodded, "Rules are simple, Do NOT ruin the vehicles, or Duke will have our hides. The object of the game is to retrieve as many red flags from the Joes holding them on the outside. Each red flag is 10 points, if you spot a black flag and retrieve it, that will add an additional 100 points. Now remember, the object of the game is for your opponents not to retrieve the flags. So pretty much you will bump them out of the way. If a tire falls off your vehicle for any reason, your team is out of the game. Said that. Teams get into your positions!"

Suddenly the sound of an approaching vehicle captured the group's attention.

"If that is Flint, we are dead meat." said a nervous Shipwreck as the jeep drove closer.

"Wait.. That is not Flint! It's Lady Jaye, Cover Girl and Scarlett!" said Gung Ho.

The Joe jeep halted near the groups as the driver and passengers stepped out.

"Glad you made it ladies!" said Clutch.

"Oh Good, we thought we missed the start." said Cover Girl. "We had a run in with Flint."

"FLINT!" spoke loudly Gung Ho, "Is he on to us?"

"No," answered Lady Jaye. "But he will not be around for awhile, he had a run in with Spirit's friend." This statement resulted into the groups' outburst laughter. "But we do have one tiny problem."

"What's that?" asked Ace.

"Flint put Scarlett here to keep an eye out." Lady Jaye answered as she pointed to the counterintelligence agent.

"Well, in that case…" Gung Ho walked towards Scarlett. "We just going to have to put Scarlett somewhere where she can 'see' everything."

"Gung Ho, what are you…" Scarlett never finished her sentence as Gung Ho grabbed her from the waist and threw her over his shoulders. "Need your assistance, Ace!" he called out.

"Hey!" yelled Scarlett "Put me down…"

"In a minute, Red." came the reply. Gung Ho walked towards his jeep and settled Scarlett in the passenger seat. Ace came from the side with a rope.

"Ace! What are you doing with that?" said a now wide eyed Scarlett.

"Just making sure we all do not get into trouble." Ace replied as he started to tie Scarlett in the seat. It took a few minutes for him to tie the ropes around her and the seat. "Ok, she strapped in." he said to Gung Ho. Ace then turned to the red head and winked. "Now we do not want you to fly out of this jeep, now do we?"

"Hey! Untie me at once!" ordered Scarlett but nobody heard her command because her voice was covered from the roaring engines of the vehicles starting up. She glanced to the side as she saw Cover Girl and Lady Jaye with amused faces. "Funny" she mouthed to them with an annoyed look. Her body jerked back as Gung Ho put the jeep in gear and drove into the ring.

"Lifeline, can you still get the flags from the backseat?" asked Gung Ho.

"Sure G.H." answered Lifeline. "I just hope Scarlett doesn't get car sick." He gulped as the red head gave him an icy stare.

"Nah.. I wouldn't worry. If she flew into space in a sky striker, this is a piece of…" he was interrupted as they all jerked forward as another car bumped against them.

"Beep Beep!" cried out Shipwreck as he banged into them again.

"Shipwreck go to the left!" Ace called out. "Flag at 1 o'clock!" But before they could go collect the flag, they were side reared by Footloose's jeep.

Gung Ho steered to the right from preventing a bumper-to-bumper crash with Wetsuit's vehicle. "Be careful how you drive Wetsuit! There is no diving here." he chuckled.

"Eat our dust then G.H.!" said Leatherneck as he grabbed a red flag from a Greenshirt.

"Gung Ho! Look out!" warned Scarlett

Gung Ho swirled to the left as Mutt's jeep bumped to their side. "Oompph" he heard both Scarlett and Lifeline exhale. He shifted then to reverse to avoid another collision with Clutch's vehicle.

"Hang on Red!" he called out as he drove near the sidelines avoiding two jeeps coming in at full speed. "Lifeline! 3 o'clock!"

"Got it!" said Lifeline, as he grabbed a red flag from Lady Jaye.

A loud crash sounded off to their right as they saw several tires roll to the sidelines. Quick Kick's and Ripcord's teams were out of the game.

"Lifeline, 7 o'clock!" Gung Ho hollered. He was answered with another "Got it!"

Suddenly they all jolted as three jeeps had rammed into theirs from all sides. "Everyone alright?" he asked, both Scarlett and Lifeline slowly nodded.

"Beep Beep!" came again from Shipwreck as he drove passed with a black flag.

Again they heard another thunderous sound as Wetsuit's and Airtight's cars smashed into the haystack wall. Two more teams were out of the game.

"Time to get serious. Hang on you two!" said Gung Ho. He shifted the car towards the right. "Lifeline, Black flag straight ahead!"

"Drat! Missed it!" called Lifeline from the backseat.

"No, problem!" Gung Ho stated as he did a swift "U" turn, missing the haystack wall by several inches. Scarlett gave a small yelp as he drove faster towards the target. He turned towards her to see her face had turned to a ghostly white.

"Got it!" screamed a triumphant Lifeline.

"G.H.! Bare to the left, NOW!" came Scarlett's warning. She braced herself for the collision, but none came for Gung Ho steered the car to the left, as Shipwreck's missed theirs but crashed into Alpine's causing more tires to explode from the impact. Only four teams remained in the game.

"I think I left my stomach back there.." said a shaky Lifeline.

"Great, we can go back and pick it up along with my sanity." replied Scarlett.

"INCOMING!" bellowed Gung Ho as Clutch's vehicle hammered into theirs. "Ummphh.. That was a big one. All tires still in place?" He asked watching another tire roll away from the jeeps.

"Affirmative, G.H." came Lifeline's reply.

Mutt's team drove by as they waved another black flag. "Whoohoo!" they heard him holler.

Suddenly a loud voice interrupted the game.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

Gung Ho stopped the car short causing Footloose's vehicle to collide with theirs. He heard painful moans coming from the passenger seat and the backseat.

Scarlett looked up towards the haystacks to see a very angry looking Flint staring down at the group. She noticed that the Greeenshirts ran for their lives as the second in command had arrived. Her eyes traveled to the sidelines staring at the horrified faces of the rest of the team.

"I repeat! What is going on here?" yelled a fuming Flint. None answered him. Flint glanced around as he analyzed the situation. His jaw dropped when he caught sight of the tires tied around the jeeps.

"BUMPER CARS!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "I can't believe you used the Joe Jeeps as Bumper Cars! Well, now I know where Beach's missing tires went! As of now this game is cancelled! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" they all said at once.

"And where is Scarlett? I do not see her." asked an annoyed Flint. He was now getting concerned as she may have suffered a similar fate like Beach Head did last year.

A voice came from Gung Ho's vehicle. "Here, Flint."

Flint blinked twice as he saw her seating in the passenger seat. "Ok, out of the car, we need to talk."

"Can't" was her reply.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Tied."

"WHAT!" his eyes grew wide seeing her for the first time with the rope around her and the seat. "Well, at least they did not shove her in a closet somewhere" he thought.

"Well, you did say for her to keep an eye on things." came from Gung Ho. "Trust me, she _saw _everything Flint." patting Scarlett on the shoulder.

"OK, Gung Ho, release Scarlett, the rest of you to the mess hall!" Flint ordered. "And if I see any disaster in there, you are all going to be on KP duty for a month!"

"Yes Sir!" came the joined reply again.

He shook his head and started to walk towards his office. "I think I am going to take those aspirins Duke left for me." And the day was not even over yet.

---------------------

In the Mess Hall, Gung Ho walked with his tray towards Lady Jaye's table and took a seat next to her. Turning his head towards Lady Jaye he asked, "Where's Red?"

Lady Jaye swallowed her food before answering him, "Still in Flint's office..well technically Duke's because of the nice odor that still inhabits Flint office."

"Yeah, feel bad for the skunk having to smell Flint's boots." said Gung Ho with a smile. "Hope she is not too much in trouble, you think?

"Who? Scarlett or the Skunk?" said Cover Girl with a grin. She was sitting opposite from Lady Jaye.

"Both."

"I doubt it, I think he only wanted to learn details of the game." answered Lady Jaye.

"I think we are almost ready for the big battle this afternoon, I spoke to Breaker an hour ago and he claims that everything is almost ready." Gung Ho announced. "All set for your part of the plan, Jaye?"

She nodded, "Yes, the magic hour is at 1600 hrs!"

"You know, he is going to go bonkers with what we have planned." said Cover Girl.

"Yeah, but it will be worth the look on his face!" came the voice of Shipwreck's from the next table.

"What worries me is if Duke returns early." said Lady Jaye. "He will probably have some sort of stroke."

"Naw.. Maybe his face will blow like a volcano, but other than that… nothing major." replied Gung Ho. He looked up to see a tired looking Scarlett enter the mess hall. "Hey Red! Over here!"

Scarlett gave them a reassured smile as she walked at the counter, grabbed a sandwich and came to the table.

"So what happened?" asked Cover Girl. "Did he chew you? Are we all going to be punished?"

"Did he still smell?" came the question from Shipwreck whose head got thumped by a flying bread roll.

Gung Ho looked carefully at Scarlett, "You look like you just got hit by ten Cobra B.A.T.S."

"No, I look like I got hit by ten G.I. Joe Bumper Cars." she replied as everyone snickered at the table. Scarlett then turned to them, "He was not angry, which was surprising. He only wanted the details of what happened." A sigh of relief from the others followed the explanation.

Lady Jaye then asked, "Where is he? I thought he was coming for lunch."

Scarlett answered her, "Well.. Flint decided to eat in the office." looking at Shipwreck, she continued. "He thought it was best, as the new perfume on him had not fully vaporized" causing the sailor to fall off his chair from the laughter.

"Well, at least he is out of our hair for another hour or so, plenty of time to get ready for the next event." Gung Ho said with an evil smile on his face.

Cover Girl gave a sudden gasp, and the others turned towards her. "I think we got company." she said in small voice staring at the doorway.

"Company?" asked Lady Jaye turning her head towards Cover Girls' direction. Her eyes then became huge. "I think we got a visitor."

"Who?" asked Scarlett as she looked towards the doorway. Scanning she watched a small black object waddled into the room. "Oh oh!"

Gung Ho was the first to react, "SKUNK!" as he jumped out of his chair.

"Everyone SCATTER!" Shipwreck bellowed as numerous chairs were pushed back and team members scrambled out the door to escape. The mess hall was deserted within minutes leaving Spirits' friend to munch on the leftovers in peace.

-----------------------

A small mass of greenish goop fell on the computer room's floor.

"Mainframe!" said Breaker, "Be more careful will you?"

"Sorry Breaker," replied Mainframe. "How many of these things are we making?" as he held a toy weapon.

"Enough for everyone I think." answered Breaker.

"What is this stuff?" asked Mainframe, "It's smells like my sock drawer."

"Yuck, not the information I wanted to hear.." smiled Breaker. "It is my new invention. Let's just say it resembles green jello and slime combined."

"Oh…" said a still confused Mainframe as he loaded another weapon.

"I only hope Duke does not show up before the battle." said Breaker as he padded one of the weapons ready for action.

"Yes, but I just hope Flint does not kill us first." retorted Mainframe. "I think he is still a little upset at Spirits' friend loose in his office. Not to mention the Bumper car game."

"Well, let's not worry on Flint right now, the worst he can do is give us all extra PT or KP." responded Breaker. "Hurry, we still got twenty of these things to arm."

The two Joes silently worked on the weapons as the clock on the wall said 1500hrs.

---------------------------

Flint stepped out from Duke's office as silence greeted him. "This all too quiet." he thought. He took a peek in several offices but found no occupants inside. Walking down the hall he found a deserted rec room. He grunted his teeth as he realized that something was amiss. Passing several rooms and hallways, his only companion was air. No Joes, no Greenshirts, not even an animal in sight.

"Something is going down." he said outloud. Strolling towards the Mess Hall, a clacking noise came from the rear of the room. Flint halted in his tracks. The sound indicated it had come from a plate falling on the floor. Someone was in there! If those Joes had created another disaster zone repeating last year's fiasco, heads would roll. Flint frowned as he stepping into the room. "Ok, Buddy! Come on out." he froze at the sight before him.

"Oh no! Not again!" he said in a soft voice as Spirits' friend greated him inches away from his face. With a petrified face he bolted out of the room.

-------------------

At the airstrip Lady Jaye paced nervously. She hoped that Flint had not unmasked the secret plan. There was still no sign of him; he should have been here by now. Checking her watch it read 1605 hrs. Well, he was only five minutes late. No need to worry. Right?

"Any sign of him Jaye?" asked Ace from behind a Sky Striker's wheels near by where she stood.

She shook her head. "Nothing yet."

From behind another Sky Striker's tires Gung Ho spoke. "Breaker just radioed in." as he lifted the walkie-talkie in his hand. "Flint's on his way," and with a chuckle he added. "He also said that Flint had another run in with Spirits' friend."

A few soft laughs were heard from behind one of the bunkers. Suddenly a figure appeared from exiting the main building.

"Everyone quiet!" sneered Lady Jaye as she spotted Flint heading her way. She watched him stop in front of the flagpole looking up and shaking his head, then continued walking towards her. A smile spread on her face as she glanced at the flapping boxer shorts.

"Get your ammo ready people!" Ace ordered through the walkie-talkie as Flint inched closer.

Flint stopped in front of Lady Jaye. "Hi."

"Hi, there yourself." she went to embrace him but tore away backwards. "Ommphh. Guess you are stil wearing the perfume huh?"

Flint's cheeks changed to a light rose color. "Well. I am wearing the new afternoon scent. The morning scent is so fashionably over!"

Lady Jaye let out a giggle.

"So, any idea where the devil is everyone?" asked Flint. "This place is starting to identify with a COBRA abandoned base."

"Hmm?" answered Lady Jaye.

"Ok, play the "I don't know where my friends are as they are up to mischief" card." said Flint. "So why the scecret meeting here?"

"Oh, this meeting is not secret." she replied.

"Oh?" Flint asked puzzled. "Well, who else knows?"

"Oh.. Just everyone." she said softly, but her next word was shouted. "NOW!"

Flint stood still as he was quickly surrounded by the whole entire team weapons armed and ready to strike. "I am not going to like this." he thought.

"Emmm.. Hi guys." he said in a pleasant voice.

"Hi yourself." came the voice of Ace behind him. Flint turned to see Ace, Scarlett and Gung Ho with armed weapons that had attached canisters. Then he faced Lady Jaye.

"Let me guess, you are going to execute me. Right?" he uttered.

"No, that is scheduled for next week's events." answered Lady Jaye as a few laughed at her joke. "I only got one thing to say to you Flint."

Flint gulped, "And would that be?"

"HAPPY ANNUAL DAY!" Lady Jaye yelled loudly. "FIRE!"

And with those words said, Flint caught his breath as a mass of green goop covered his entire body. "uhh. Yuck!" he said as more of the green slimy substance trailed from his head down to his legs.

"You look like the character from Nightmare Before Christmas, Flint!" Lady Jaye laughed.

Flint did not utter another sound. The Joes exchanged worried looks. Was he going to blow his top? Seconds seemed like hours as Flint turned to Ace and said in a controlled tone, "Give me your weapon Ace." Ace turned pale but handed the weapon to the W.O.

Taking the weapon in his hands, he turned once again to Lady Jaye. "Well, this just simply takes the cake!" a hush had fallen over the base. Noone dared to talk at that particular moment.

"Lady Jaye?" asked Flint looking staright in her face and weapon in his clutches. "You know what they say? Right?"

Lady Jaye stared at the green gooped Flint, "What do they say Flint?"

Flint's face changed from serious to an illusive expression. "If you cannot beat them, then join them!" covering Lady Jaye with a large mass of green goop. "Yo JOE!"

Flint turned around and said, "What are you all waiting for?" as he started firing at Ace, Scarlett and Gung Ho.

"Duck!" Ace yelled as the green goop missed him by a few inches. Gung Ho was not so lucky.

Choas exploded as the Joes ran around shooting the green substance at each other.

"Take that Mutt!" called out Lady Jaye as covered the Canine officer with enough goop for five victims. "That was from this morning!"

"Get back here, Jaye!" called back Mutt as he shot but hit Shipwreck instead.

Ace, Ripcord and Gung Ho had cornered Cover Girl next to a Sky Striker. "It's payback time." said Ace with a smirk on his face. Cover Girl's face was ready for battle, she was not going down without a good fight.

"Ready Boys?" Ace ordered. "FIRE!" as three huge round masses flew towards Cover Girl, with a swift move she jumped out of their way as the green substance hit the Sky Striker.

"ACE!" Scarlett yelled towards the three men, "You just shot my Striker!"

"Oh oh, Red's mad!" Gung Ho stated as he ducked one of her shots. "Run for it!" Ace and Ripcord need no further warning, they followed Gung Ho under the other aircrafts with Scarlett at their heels.

"Na na na! You cannot catch me!" cried out Shipwreck as he hit Cover Girl and Lifeline.

"You are so dead Sailor!" replied Cover Girl chasing him.

"Take cover!" yelled out Flint as more green round masses fell next to him hitting another airplane. "Oh great." as he realized it was his own craft.

"What cover?" replied Lady Jaye watching more of the planes change from gray to green exteriors. "Scarlett! Look out!" she warned as she watched Scarlett now getting chased by Ace, Gung Ho, Ricord, Wild Bill and Mutt. "She is doomed."

A maniacal laugh came from the left as Shipwreck bore down on her and Flint.

"Take that!" Flint said covering Shipwreck with the goop.

Someone then yelled, "Skunk! Twelve oclock!" Flint turned towards the voice with a "What!" but was covered with more of the green substance.

"Got you Flint!" came the voice of Lady Jaye as she ran from him.

"You are not getting too far!" she heard Flint holler behind her just as masses of the green mess spluttered near her feet.

Footloose and Dusty ducked several globs of the green substance as they smashed into another Sky Stiker. " Oh Oh man!" said Footloose, "I think that was Duke's!"

"Keep running Footloose! Keep running!" retorted Dusty as he tried to counterattck at Wet Suit and Leatherneck.

"Blow the man down!" came a yell from Shipwreck as he ambushed Wetsuit and Leatherneck. But then gave a squeal as Mutt and Wild Bill ambushed him.

From behind a bunker a shadow steadily walked towards the battle.

"Lady Jaye!" called out Cover Girl from under a Sky Striker. "Over here!"

Lady Jaye crawled under the massive aircraft towards Cover Girl.

"Seen Scarlett?" she asked.

Cover Girl shook her head, "The last time I saw her she was being chased by…" she never finished her sentence as they both got a massive hit from Flint, Shipwreck and Gung Ho. "Agh! This green mess better wash off from my hair!" as she turned the tables on the men.

"Ahem…" came a voice from the background. But none of the Joes responded.

"Lifeline! Look out!" came a warning from Clutch. But it was too late as he watched his friend become a Grinch look-a-like.

"Hey Clutch!" called out Cover Girl, "Payback!" as she blasted him with more of the green jello.

Ace turned towards one of the Sky Strikers noticing two familiar feet. "Found you, Red!" he called out running towards his target. He got his weapon ready to blast as Scarlett jumped out from behind the aircraft.

Scarlett eluded Ace's shot. Pivoting to the left, she targeted the pilot.

"You were saying?"

With a swift manuveur Ace dodged the green mass seconds before it traveled by him and smacked into something yellow.

Cover Girl and Lady Jaye ran passed Ace and Scarlett as Flint, Gung Ho, Shipwreck, Wild Bill, Mutt, and Dusty pursued.

"EHEM.." said a voice as Footloose and Clutch slipped on the goop and landed with a thud.

"Take cover!" called out Scarlett as she ran towards Lady Jaye and Cover Girl. She turned to see Ace chasing after her.

"This way!" said Lady Jaye, as all three Joe women crawled under the last remaining unscathed Sky Striker.

"Blast! They have us cornered!" stated Cover Girl.

"Umm.. Jaye, you know who's Striker this is?" asked Scarlett.

"Hawks'!" they all said in unison.

Lady Jaye's eyes wided as their pursuers had located their hiding spot. "Oh oh! We got trouble at 12 oclock!"

"Sorry ladies, but this is too good to pass up." said Ace. "Ready…Aim…."

Suddenly a loud yell flew through the air.

"WHAT THE BLOODY BLUE BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!"

Weapons fell to the ground as all the Joes froze into place. They all turned slowly towards the voice. Stunned silence followed as Duke walked in the middle of the group.

"Duke.. Your back! So how the meeting…." asked a shaky Shipwreck but immediately closed his mouth by Duke's livid glare.

Duke gave a hard stare at each of the Joes.

"I leave for a few hours and return to find the base it utter chaos! The mess hall smells like a skunk moved in, the Jeeps are a disaster, and _this_." shaking his head as he his eyes wondered from the green gooped Joes, to the dripping green substance from the Sky Strikers and lastly to the green stain on his own shirt.

Flint stepped forward. "Sorry Duke, I guess we got carried away."

"Glad to know that Flint." Duke replied taking Flint's weapon. "But first I want some answers! One- Who let Scruffy in the building? Two- Who's idea was the BumperCars? Three- Who is responsible for this green mess? And lastly, Four- Who shot me?"

"But I think I already know those answers. Let me see if I can get them right." Duke continued.

The team stood silent as Duke answered his own questions, which they already knew the answers to the first three, but not the last. Who had gooped Duke? "One- Shipwreck. Two- Clutch. Three- Breaker and Mainframe, who are at this minute de-odorizing the Mess. Four- It was Miss Scarlett, in the airstrip, with the gun."

All eyes turned toward a wide-eyed, opened mouthed, frozen still Scarlett.

"RUN Scarlett!" yelled out Lady Jaye and Cover Girl as they already watched their friend bolt.

"Ahem.." Duke cleared his throat again. "Everyone is going to clean this mess on the double! Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Flint, I am leaving you in charge of the clean up." Duke ordered. "Exuse me as I go red head hunting." as he raised the weapon and aimed.

---------------------------

"My hands are killing me!" said a tired Lady Jaye a few hours later. The entire team had scrubbed every green colored goop they could locate.

"Now whose idea was this?" asked a wrinkled hand Ace as he scrubbed Duke's Sky Striker.

"Not mine, but why are you complaining?" asked Clutch from scrubbing the one next to it. "I still got ten G.I. Joe Jeeps to untie tires from their frames, not to mention washing and waxing them."

"Well, here is something positive." said Shipwreck while mopping the green goop from the airstrip.

"And what is that sailor?" asked Cover Girl as she passed by with two water buckets.

"We can start planning for next Annual Day!" Shipwreck said with a grin.

"NEXT Annual Day?" Flint yelled.

Everyone stopped as they all turned towards Shipwreck and flung their sponges at him.

"Well at least one good thing came out from all of this." said Lady Jaye.

"Oh? And what is that?" asked Flint.

Lady Jaye put her hand on Flint's shoulder as she answered, "Welcome to the Dark side Flint."


	5. Chapter five

"…… and that is how the day ended." Flint said as he finished the story.

Falcon stood silent for short moment. "Wow, that sounded like my kind of fun."

"Figures." said Duke as he grinned at Falcon's rolling eyes.

"I for one am glad that day is over, too many headaches. Not to mention what I went through!" replied Flint. "Duke, it is your turn next year. I for one will be glad to go on a mission!"

"No thanks, I think I will have Beach Head take on the next Annual Day." said Duke.

"Are you both crazy." stated Beach Head. "I am not going to baby-sit a bunch of nutcases."

Scarlett turned towards the men, "And why are you three complaining? I think I suffered more on that day then Flint did. I got soaked, rattled, tied, targeted and chased. Flint's day was a piece of cake compared to mine!"

Falcon turned at the counterintelligence officer. "So, did Duke goop you?"

"Nope." Scarlett answered shaking her head.

Duke spoke up. "I searched the entire base, but could not find her."

"And you wouldn't. I hid in the place you least expected."

Duke raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And where would that be?"

With a grin Scarlett said. "Flint's office." causing the group to laugh.

"Well, that explains why you washed your hair thirty-seven times that week!" said Lady Jaye.

"Yes, Scruffy and I had a long discussion about being chased by men." causing more fits of laughter.

A flash of lighting interrupted their moment as the wind continued to howl. Surprised from the bolt of light, Falcon dropped the Album but immediately retrieved it and open it to another set of pictures.

"Hey, remember this picture?" asked Scarlett pointing to a image of Flint and Gung Ho being chased by a Dinosaur.

"Another headache!" replied Flint. "I had Flintstone nightmares for a month!"

A groan came from Lady Jaye for his bad joke.

Falcon studied the pictures on the page, the one next to the big Dinosaur, showed Breaker and Scarlett jumping from a flying Cobra vehicle. Another featured Dusty surrounded with several Joes reinstating him back on the team. He had heard that particular story as Duke had gotten hurt and was in a coma for a week. He smiled as he saw the three Joe women dressed as groupies with a COLD SLITHER poster in the background. But when he turned the page, he was astonished at the picture before him. "WHAT THE…" too surprised, he could not finish his words, startled at the image of Scarlett in white gown being held hostage by Cobra Commander!

"How did this…how.." as confused words escaped his mouth.

"That is another headache day." said Scarlett.

"What happened?" asked Falcon.

Scarlett leaned back on the cushion. "Well it all started with Lady Jaye's scream….."


	6. Chapter six

A piercing scream flooded the rooms' atmosphere followed by a large thud on the ground. Scarlett turned towards a butter covered oozing Duke. She swallowed a giggle. "Sorry about that Duke, Lady Jaye's scream caught me by surprise." Scarlett said as she dusted off a few popcorn kernels from his shirt.

"Unlikely story.." responded Duke taking a napkin from the coffee table and began to wipe off the yellow mess that inhabited his face. Turning to Lady Jaye he asked, "I thought these kinds of movies did not have an affect on you, judging from your background and all."

"Usually they don't." said a Lady Jaye turning bright pink. "But my last date with a ghost still has me frazzled I guess."

Flint put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "Does the Manor still have an affect on you? That counterfeit ghost was only a hologram." They all nodded as Lady Jaye's and Flint's adventures in Destro's castle were still new in their minds.

"I know that wasn't a real specter, but it still chills me." Lady Jaye said.

Flint gave her a wink, "Besides, Duke and Scarlett should be the ones shivering in their boots. They tackled on three phantoms, not to mention a walking skeleton."

"Thanks for that little reminder!" said Scarlett throwing at him several popcorn kernels. "Now I am not going to sleep for a week!"

Duke turned towards her, "I thought you were not frightened with the Phantom Brigade. They became allies in the end, remember?"

"No, that is not it. I remember. The scene of Cobra Commander dancing with a possessed skeleton will haunt my dreams tonight."

The unpleasant moment was broken by laughter.

"Ok, let's finish watching this horror flick." said Lady Jaye.

Flint looked in her face. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." she said with a smile "And besides, I can always use you as a pillow if needed."

Flint turned to Duke. "Can I borrow some of that buttery mess, so I can lather it in Lady Jaye's hair?"

"You wouldn't dare!" said Lady Jaye in horror. "Duke, you aren't going to let him. Are you?"

Duke grinned. "No way! and waste my new conditioner?" he slowly stood up from the couch as more yellow liquid dripped from his hair. "Going to get this gunk off. Be right back." as he departed the room and walked down the darkened hallway.

Scarlett watching him leave, couldn't hold it any longer, burst into a giggling fit. "I heard that!" came his voice from down the hallway. Making Flint and Lady Jaye join in the comical moment.

Turning to Flint, she asked. "Any idea what the theme will be this year?"

"Not a clue. Both Hawk and Duke have it under wraps. Hawk sent Duke a large parcel earlier this week." he answered her. "I just hope it is nothing like last year's event. I for one do not want to wear a hula skirt again."

"I second that." agreed Lady Jaye.

"Third it." added Scarlett.

Flint turned towards Lady Jaye and asked. "Is that why you are on edge tonight? Because of tomorrow?"

"Maybe.. Maybe not.. I am not sure." Lady Jaye answered in a low tone. "I am not sure why I'm worried. Tomorrow is only a day, even if it is Halloween."

"All Hallow's Eve, the day of the dead." said Scarlett in a whisper.

"You are not helping, you know!" Lady Jaye replied as she threw several popcorn kernels at her teasing friend.

Picking up the remote control from the table, Flint asked. "Shall we continue watching _The Amityville Horror _movie or wait for Duke?"

"I think he will be back momentarily." answered Scarlett, "Let's just give him a few more minutes."

"Alight, but…." Flint's sentence was cut short.

Suddenly a low moaning sound came from the darkened hallway. The three Joes turned towards the sound as it neared the room.

"Duke? Is that you?" called out Scarlett. "You alright?"

Their eyes gradually became larger as a massive white figure glided across the hall. The ghostly appearance stopped for a few seconds, turning towards them uttering another low moan sending shivers down their spines and then it continued down the hallway.

Wasting no time, Flint bolted towards the doorway. He glanced down the path where the specter had traveled, but found nothing. Turning to the others he softly spoke, "Please tell me you just saw that?"

In seconds both Lady Jaye and Scarlett were beside him.

"Is this some kind of prank?" asked Lady Jaye.

Stepping further into the unlit hallway Scarlett called out. "Duke? If this is your idea of a joke, it is not funny!"

"Come on out, Duke!" called out Flint but dead silence was his only answer.

The three of them stood silent for a mere moment.

"What are you all doing out here?" came a voice from behind them.

Scarlett, Flint and Lady Jaye pivoted instantly with a gasp. "Duke!" they said simultaneously.

Duke looked at their confused features. "What?"

"That was not funny!" answered Scarlett, crossing her arms.

"Why did you do something like that?" added Lady Jaye with hands on her hips.

"Was that your idea of a joke?" asked Flint, pointing to the First Sergeant.

Duke studied Scarlett, then Lady Jaye and lastly Flint. "What joke? Can someone please tell me what the blue blazes is going on?"

"Please tell us you just ran down the hall wearing a white sheet over your head." said Lady Jaye.

Duke gave her a serious look. "I am not twelve anymore. If you all saw something, it was not me. But whoever it was is going to have KP duty for a month!" finishing his words, he darted down the hallway with Flint at his heels.

Scarlett and Lady Jaye returned to the room.

"Think they will find the culprit?" asked Lady Jaye.

"I hope so, if not…" Scarlett answered. "Well.."

After a few minutes, Duke and Flint returned to the room empty handed. "Well, whoever it was is long gone now." said Flint.

"He better be!" said Lady Jaye.

Duke picked up the remote and switch the television off. "I think it is time to hit the sack. We all got an early day tomorrow." His answers were silent nods.

-----------------------------

Scarlett darted down a stone hallway as a vision of Cobra Commander transforming into a skeleton pursued her. The Skeleton kept following her as it chased her down the dark hallways of a castle. Running down a stone staircase, she tried to elude him. Finding herself cornered without her crossbow, she turned to face the evil creature. Glancing for an escape, she found none. Breathing heavily against the cold stone wall, she closed her eyes waiting for her demise. A scream echoed throughout the castle's aura. Scarlett opened her eyes and glanced at the ceiling, the sound had come within the walls. The skeleton moved forward inching closer to the red head. Another sudden shriek shot through the air, this time with a much more profound sound.

Scarlett woke with a start. Not that the dream had jolted her awake, it was the scream itself that had awaken her. Jumping out of her bed, she dashed towards Lady Jaye's room. She halted as she found Lady Jaye sitting on her bed as another loud scream escaped from her throat.

"What's the matter?" Scarlett asked concerned.

Lady Jaye raised her hand pointing towards the window. With a shaky voice she spoke. " I..I..just saw Cobra Commander looking from outside my window!"

It took seconds for Scarlett to react. "WHAT!" running towards Lady Jaye's window. Peaking outside, she glanced around but saw no moving shadows. She turned back towards a shaken Lady Jaye.

"Come on!" Scarlett said as she ran back into her bedroom.

Lady Jaye needed no more further commands, getting up from her bed, she slid in her slippers and ran out of the door. Scarlett emerged from her room with a crossbow.

"Don't tell me you sleep with that thing?" asked a raised eyebrow Lady Jaye.

Scarlett opened their quarter's door giving her answer. "No, this is my old one. I have it in the bedroom for emergencies just like this one."

A still amazed Lady Jaye followed the counterintelligence agent. "Are we going to raise the alarm?"

"Not yet." came the answer. "We want to be positive first it was him."

"Trust me! I am positive!" replied Lady Jaye. "I saw him at the window with his shiny mask on! Now, how many people you know wear that helmet?"

Both women ran outside in the cold autumn air. They stopped in front of the building. "Okay, which way?" asked Lady Jaye.

"Well, the main building is to the left, so knowing our friend..that is where he will be likely be heading." answered Scarlett. Both of them began to run at top speed towards the main building. As they reached around a corner they both collided with a solid object. "Ommphhh." came from three voices.

Glancing up, Scarlett found a frown faced Beach Head. "What on EARTH! Why are you two out here at this time of night? And with your nightgowns on?"

Scarlett and Lady Jaye looked at each other before saying the words that made Beach Head frozen solid. "We just spotted Cobra Commander!"

"WHAT? Where?" asked a loudly Beach Head.

"Outside my room." answered Lady Jaye. "We thought he is heading towards the main building."

"Why would the Commander come here? Usually he sends his goons, or flying monkeys. Never mind. Both of you go to the main building.

I'll wake up a few others. We do not want a full-scale alarm unless it is necessary. Got that? Now MOVE it!" as he ran towards men's quarters.

"Come on.. Let's move." Scarlett said running towards the Pit.

For several hours, Scarlett and Lady Jaye along with Beach Head, Mutt and Junkyard, Ace, Roadblock and Gung Ho searched the entire base, but came up empty-handed. No Cobra Commander, no mask, not a clue left that he was even on the base. After Beach Head's "I cannot believe this. You are both insane" look, they all headed back to their quarters.

---------------------

"Ok, this is sooooo gross!" said a green faced Cover Girl as she glanced down at her pancakes.

"Hmm.. What is gross?" asked a still sleepy-eyed Scarlett.

"You _must _be exhausted, if you have not even noticed!" replied a surprised Cover Girl.

"Noticed what?" yawned Scarlett.

Lady Jaye's warning came quietly, "Don't look down but there are eight legged crawlers on your pancakes."

Scarlett's eyes shot open. "There are WHAT?" glancing down at her breakfast she discovered the small black widow spiders that had invaded the flat brown pancakes. Relief swept over her as she noticed that these spiders were not the "alive" kind.

"You think Roadblock is over doing it this year?" Scarlett asked. "Where in the world did he find chocolate chip spiders?"

A voice came from behind them. "Halloween Town store." they turned to see Flint as he took a seat next to Lady Jaye.

"Figures!" said Cover Girl.

Flint looked from Lady Jaye to Scarlett. "Beach filled me on last night's chase. Both of you look like you did not get enough rest last night."

"What chase?" asked Cover Girl as Shipwreck took the seat next to hers.

Glancing at the sleepy eyed Lady Jaye, Flint said, "They _thought _they saw Cobra Commander outside their quarter's window." causing Shipwreck to spit out his coffee.

"What!" both Cover Girl and Shipwreck said at the same instant.

"We searched the whole base, and found nothing." said Scarlett.

Shipwreck winked at Lady Jaye. "What was he doing under your window? May he wassssss sssssssserenading?" as he finished his Cobra Commander's impression.

"Put a lid on it Sailor!" said Cover Girl, glancing at the clock, she realized what time it was. "We better hurry. Duke is about to start his meeting."

Pushing their chairs back and throwing out their garbage, the entire team went to report for the meeting.

-------------------------

Duke stood in front of his team. He looked around to see various expressions from thrilled, excitements, nervousness, confusions, Beach Head's I really hate this day, and sleepy eyed Joes. A gradual grin slowly developed in his features.

"Alright Joes." He said initiating the start of the meeting. "As you are all aware of COBRA has been sleeping in the grass for a few months now. Both Hawk and I agree to let sleeping snakes lie. After discussing the matter with Hawk, we both have come to the conclusion that you all need some fun. So for tonight, everyone will take part of the annual Masquerade ball." he heard cheers coming from most of the team, along with some groans and a yawn?

Duke cleared his throat before continuing. "Now you all know every year we have a theme for this annual Halloween bash. This year we decided to have suggestions. I do recall some of you had "issues" with last year's 'Joes in Hawaii' theme. This year I am pleased to say both Hawk and I agree on one Joe's idea." turning towards Shipwreck's hopeful face, he said. "Sorry Ship. But we are not going to do the Toga party." then he announced. "This year's theme is thanks to Lady Jaye, with her idea of "Favorite Hollywood Character!"

A burst of applause echoed through the room as a few Joes patted Lady Jaye on the back.

"Hey that is a neat idea!" said Roadblock. "I already know what to wear!"

"Yeeehaa!" called out Wild Bill. "I cannot wait to wear my Lone Ranger outfit!"

"I am going to be Darth Vader!" said Sci-Fi.

"Hey, Duke!" called out Shipwreck. "You, should go as Fred Jones, Flint should be Shaggy Rogers, Scarlett is the perfect Daphne Blake and L.J. can play the part of Velma Dinkley! Just borrow Snakes' Timber as Scooby Doo and you all be one Hollywood set!"

Laughter surrounded the sailor as he ducked a punch from Flint.

Duke raised an arm to hush the team down. "Ok ok.. Joes. Even though we have festivities tonight. Do not forget that COBRA is out there. So be on alert, and report back to your duties until 1800 hrs. There is one more thing for tonight's rules. No weapons allowed near the party. Dismissed!"

-------------------------

Beach Head paced in the rainy field that housed his famous obstacle course. A light drizzle had started only a few minutes ago. Looking towards his right he spotted several members of the team running the ten-mile punishment. A gradual grin spread from under his balaclava, he loved challenging them to their limits. He stared at the oddball group as they jogged steadily on the track, who appeared a little green from about to loose their morning meal.

"Let's pace it faster people!" he bellowed, as a few moans escaped in the air.

Beach Head stiffed an incoming yawn. "Blast." he thought recalling last night's search of the elusive Commander while shaking his head. "Lady Jaye and Scarlett were probably dreaming!" Glancing again at his peculiar group, a short laugh escaped from within his throat. Looking directly at the four exhausted Joes, he wondered how did they get themselves into this. It was easily to figure out Bazooka and Alpine, probably another of their disagreements, but the real reason was the fact that they had dubbed the Pit as an excellent place to bungee jump. Would have worked nicely, if not for the fact that Bazooka twisted in a wrong angle while in midair crashing through a window and right into Duke's office. It was even easier to analyze Shipwreck, probably another joke gone wrong. Beach Head had heard on the Scruffy incident, and another chuckle escaped from his mouth. But the fourth puzzled him. Why was Cover Girl getting punishment? He glanced back to the runners, but failed to see them. A light fog had surrounded the area creating a dismal atmosphere. "Might as well find out." he thought as he began to run onto the track.

Nearing the runners, he barked another order. "Move it! You are all pacing too slow. I swear I just saw five slugs pass you!"

"Give us a break Beach Head!" said Cover Girl as began to increase her pace. "This is our second PT today." She was running behind the other three.

Keeping his running pace next to her, he gave her an enraged glare. "Well.. In that case, you should think before you react. I am not the one who gave you the punishment."

"Yeah.. Well do not remind me." she replied a little winded.

Beach Head gave her another intriguing look, "Okay, those three I know why they are here. But what did you do to get into this mess?" pacing closer to her.

Cover Girl glanced back at him. "I did not know you cared?" in a sweet child like voice.

"I don't."

She slowed down her pace a little as to escape from the other ears in front of them. Beach Head took the message and slowed his own pace. The drizzle continued to cover them, as their clothes had a damper appearance.

"Ok, I might as well tell you before you hear it from someone else." Cover Girl stated.

Beach Head remained silent. "Oh, this is going to be a good one." he thought.

Cover Girl looked ahead to make sure the others were out of earshot then turned her head towards Beach Head. "Nothing much to tell, Clutch and I had another disagreement in the Garage. Okay, fine...another fight. Happy?" she could almost see the amusement from under his mask. "Well, things got a little out of hand."

"How little?" he asked.

"Little enough to make me really angry. He said something on pinning an old model poster of me in his room. Next thing I know, I threw the wrench at him that was in my hands." Cover Girl sighed.

"That's all?" Beach Head asked again.

"Not all.." she continued. "Clutch dodged the wrench as it flew passed him and hit someone else on the forehead."

"Oh oh.. Who got hit?"

Cover Girl closed her eyes before she announced. "Duke. He was passing by at that exact moment."

Beach Head let out a loud guffaw.

"Oh hush!" replied an agitated Cover Girl. "So I got PT for this morning and tomorrow. While Clutch got away with a simple lecture."

Beach Head tried to say something else to her but suddenly he and Cover Girl smashed into two other objects. He grunted as he found himself in a tangled mess on the tracks' pavement with Cover Girl, Alpine and Bazooka.

"What the.." he barked. "Why did you two stop? Did I give you permission to stop?" he voice thundered.

Alpine stared at him in silence. "Ask knuckle head over here!" he said as he found his voice. "I think the fog is getting to him."

Bazooka kept staring at the brush that covered most of the back area of the track. "But Alpine! I saw him!"

Alpine snickered, "Yeah, and I just saw Vanna White!"

Cover Girl turned towards Bazooka. "Whom did you see?" she asked.

"Probably his imagination, you know how he is after eating ten Mars Bars." said Alpine.

Bazooka's face went pale, "But I saw him! And for your information I had twelve!"

Beach Head snarled, "Fine, you had twelve! But who did you see?"

"Cobra Commander!" stated Bazooka.

"WHAT!" came the reply from both Beach Head and Cover Girl.

"Oh, not again!" Beach Head slapped his forehead. "Where?"

Bazooka pointed towards the brush. "Over there! He waved at me!"

The three others turned towards where Bazooka's finger was directing, but no one was in sight.

Beach Head stood up. "Ok, you three start searching the area. Tell Shipwreck too! I'm going to get Duke." He started to run towards the main building mumbling, "This better not be another false sighting."

He heard Alpine ask. "But Beach Head, we have no weapons! What do we use?"

"Anything!" he called back over his shoulder.

Alpine grabbed a small tree branch. "Ok, I'll swat him with this! That will really maybe knock him out before he will kill us all first." As he and the others began their search.

The drizzle had stopped as Beach Head headed towards Dukes' office. He did not bother knocking on the closed door as he opened it and entered the room. "Duke. Another Cobra Comm…" his voice trailed off. "Blast! Where is he?" he stared at an empty chair. He turned and darted out of the room, but collided with someone else.

"Ummphh.." came a voice from below him. "Beach Head, we should stop meeting like this."

Beach Head looked down at an annoyed looking Scarlett. "Agreed. Seen Duke?"

Scarlett shook her head. "No, but I was on my way to his office to give him these.." as she looked down towards the scattered paperwork. Looking at Beach Head again, she asked. "Why? What wrong?"

"Bazooka thought he just saw Cobra Commander." There! The words came out.

"WHAT!" Scarlett said with an opened mouth.

"Find Duke, but do not send out a red alert. I do not want pandemonium on this base. This can be another false lead." he commanded.

"But Lady Jaye insists she saw him by her window and with Bazooka's sighting…" her comment was never finished as Beach Head had about turned and exited the building. Scarlett gave a slow sigh as she stood up, leaving the reports on the floor, she began her own search.

--------------------------

Scarlett retreated back to her office, walked towards her desk and took out her small revolver from the 2nd drawer. She then turned towards the window watching Beach Head run into the brush and getting bumped on the head with a tree branch. A smile spread on her face at the Instructors' angry posture with wild arm waving towards a now petrified Alpine.

Leaving her office, she knocked on Lady Jayes'. Not bothering for a reply, she entered the room to find an embracing couple. Good, Flint was with her. "Sorry to intrude but we got another Commander sighting." she said at the embarrassed couple.

"I knew it! It was not my imagination!" proclaimed Lady Jaye.

Flint started towards the door, "Ok, lets search. First one spotting anything, let it go on red alert."

"Beach, wants me to look for Duke." Scarlett replied.

"No time, Red." said Flint. "He may escape by the time we find Duke."

Nodding, Scarlett followed the couple out of the room.

---------------------------

Beach Head thrashed at another bush but came again empty handed. "This is getting ridiculous!" he stated with a snarl. They had been all searching for the Commander for a whole hour and came up with nothing, not even footprints!

"Are you sure you saw him?" asked Flint who had come around from another bush. "He maybe out of state by now."

"I did not see the sniveling snake, Bazooka did." barked back Beach Head.

Bazooka turned at the mention of his name to the high-ranking officers. "Uh huh! I saw him right here and he was waving at me."

Several of bushes began to shiver as someone came closer towards them. Flint raised his weapon ready to shoot, while Alpine, Cover Girl and Bazooka raised their sticks.

"What are you going to do? Splinter him to death?" asked Beach Head.

"Quiet!" commanded Flint in a whisper. "He's getting close. Blast this fog, can barely make out the figure"

The brush swayed as a darkened silhouette emerged.

"Hold it right there!" he commanded seriously. "Give yourself up Commander." He raised his weapon and shot a warning, the bullet hit the tree next to the silhouette.

The silhouette crouched next to the tree. "For Heaven's sakes Flint! It's me!"

Flint slowly lowered his weapon. Blast, he had almost shot Scarlett. He called out an apology watching her timidly come out from behind the bush and walk towards them.

"Sorry, could not see you in all this fog." he apologized once more to the red head. "What's that you are holding?" as he noticed her hands cradled something.

"Trick or Treat." Scarlett answered.

"Huh?"

"Look what I found hiding in the back, under a bush." she announced. "Seem familiar?"

Looking towards the bundle that Scarlett was holding, it took him a mere moment to unravel the object. It was Lady Jaye's voice that answered the same conclusion he had.

"It's our Ghost!"

"Bingo." said Scarlett with a grin.

Beach Head looked perplexed. "Ghost? _What_ ghost?" He glanced from Flint to Lady Jaye, and finally at Scarlett who was now holding up a white robe of some sort.

"There is a Ghost too?" asked Cover Girl.

Beach Head snarled, "Ok, first we got Lady Jaye and Bazooka stating that the Commander is waltzing around the base playing peeping tom and peek-a-boo and now you all tell me there is a Ghost here too?" After receiving several nods, his face turned bright red. "That's it! This is all a trick or something!"

"It is no trick…" Lady Jaye tried to inform him.

"I don't care!" He bellowed loud enough causing several birds to fly away from the trees. "You are not tricking me! I want all of you in exactly 1400hrs at the obstacle course for one intense trick or treat!"

"But Beach, we just had extra PT today" Alpine pleaded. But he said no more as Beach Head gave him one of his darkest unpleasant frowns.

"1400 hrs!" he replied as he trampled over the bushes and went directly towards the gym. Beach Head thought, "They are not going to make me the laughing stock on the base. Cobra Commander my ass!"

------------------------

"Anyone seen Shipwreck?" asked Cover Girl as she joined Scarlett and Lady Jaye at the table. "Alpine, Bazooka and I searched for him like Beach Head instructed and we could not find him. I bet you he escaped PT early."

"I thought I saw him in the rec. room when I returned back to clean the paper mess on the floor. It took me ten minutes to file all the reports back into their right envelopes." said Scarlett glancing down at her Ghost shaped white bread. "You think Roadblock is over doing it?"

Lady Jaye giggled, "Maybe." as she took a bite of her Bat shaped hamburger.

"Well, the cookies look cute!" added Cover Girl. "He made, Mummies, Frankensteins and I love the headless Cobra Commander ones."

"Ughh.. Do not remind me." Lady Jaye mumbled leaning her head on her hand.

Scarlett looked up from her food as she spotted Duke and Flint entering the mess hall. Waving them over, she watched them both grab their Bat hamburgers and come towards the table.

"Where were you?" she asked Duke as he sat next to her.

Flint was the one to reply. "I found him in the closet."

"What!" they all said.

Duke glanced around the table. "Someone here thinks they are funny, they locked me in the supply closet."

"How?" asked Lady Jaye. "I mean how did they manage to get you in there?"

Duke stared down at his bat shaped burger. "Well.. I heard this moan coming from the hallway. I thought it was our friendly ghost coming back for scene two. I opened the door and peeked outside in the hallway, seeing nothing I thought it was my imagination running. Then I noticed this shadow on a wall gliding away. I began to follow it, seeing no other Joes around I had no choice. The shadow rounded the corner towards the supply closets. Creeping slowly I tip toed towards the end of the hallway. When suddenly something jumped from behind me, it was a big looking bat. I must had been surprised as I took one step backwards, then the next thing I know is that an elastic material went over my head and I was thrusted into the closet. I pulled off the fake elastic mask that covered my head, but it was too late as I heard the lock turn. So I waited there until someone came passing by. Good thing Flint came to get more paper."

"Talk about your mean trick!" stared Cover Girl.

"Speaking of Tricks, we might as well get ready for ours." said Scarlett in a negative tone.

"Trick? What trick?" asked Duke. "Must have missed something."

Flint turned towards Duke, "Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Cover Girl, Bazooka and Alpine got some extra PT practice with Beach Head this afternoon."

"Hey! You do too!" said Lady Jaye

Flint grinned at her, "High rank always has some advantages." adding a wink as he escaped the flying headless Commander cookie that Lady Jaye had thrown.

"Well, we will see you at the ball gentlemen." said Scarlett.

Pushing back their chairs the Joe women left the Mess hall followed by a slumpy looking Alpine and Bazooka while Rock N Roll hummed the death march.

"I feel sorry for them. Beach Head is on a rampage." stated Flint.

Duke looked from the Mess's door then turned towards Flint. "Oh?"

Flint leaned forward as he updated Duke on the events.

--------------------

"Oww.. I think my back is going to break." stated Alpine. He was running alongside Bazooka while Scarlett, Lady Jaye and Cover Girl paced in front of them. All of them wore heavy duty backpacks on their shoulders.

Scarlett's face was full of perspiration as she glanced over towards a similar looking Lady Jaye. But was more concerned on Cover Girl who appeared to about keel over at any second. Scarlett trotted steadily as she lugged the heavy sack on her back.

"Move it, tots!" Beach Head hollered at them.

"What is in these things Beach Head?" asked a gasping Lady Jaye.

"Bricks?" asked Scarlett.

"Keep moving, Red." was her answer.

"Yes, it feels like you put everything in here but the kitchen sink!" stated Cover Girl.

"Nope, the bathroom's." said Beach Head with a smirk.

"WHAT!" they all exasperated at the same instant.

"Oh.. Alpine.. I am not going to make it." cried out Bazooka.

"Keep moving Bazooka and I will give you twenty Mars Bars." replied Alpine.

"Okay.." came the weak answer.

"You mean you have five bathroom sinks in these backpacks?" asked Scarlett.

Beach Head gave them all a evil looking triumphant glare.

"Hope this is a lesson to all of you! This is my trick." as he let out a slow sounding cackle that sent shivers down everyone's spine. "Happy Halloween!"

--------------------------

Scarlett pinned the rest of her hair up as she studied at herself in the mirror for one last time. Twirling around in her long white green flowered skirt, she made sure everything looked right. "Perfect." she said out loud. Picking up the long white gloves, she put them slowly on. Glancing down at her dress in her mirror, she said in a southern accent, "Well, Scarlett O' Hara, you are all set for the ball." With a grin, she put on the straw hat and tied the emerald green ribbon under her chin.

Scarlett walked out of her room and into the living room of the apartment. She heard the running water coming from the bathroom and the sound of various objects from Lady Jaye's last minute preparations.

"All set, Dorothy?" she called out towards the bathroom.

"In a minute Miss O'Hara." came the reply. "I am trying to fix these long braids. I do not know how you can handle long hair! It is a miracle, you haven't cut it all by now."

"Well, you better hurry or Scarecrow will get ripped to shreds by those black birds." she replied with a giggle. Scarlett then turned towards the window. She glanced at the glowing jack-o-lanterns that covered the base. Each one more gruesome or humorous than the next. Her quick eye then caught on something disturbing, a shadowy figure just passed through as it walked towards the main building. It was not the shadow that caused her alarm, it was the tin face that made her shiver. Cobra Commanders'!

She darted towards her room and came back out with her crossbow. She ran passed the bathroom door. "Jaye!" she called out. "Cobra Commander is heading towards the main building! Call Flint. NOW!" She did not bother to stop. If she lost any precious time, he may successfully finished his mission, whatever his evil scheme may be. She only hoped that Lady Jaye heard her over the running water.

Scarlett ran after the evil villain, "He must be inside by now." she thought. Walking slowly into the main building, emptiness greeted her. She heard a rattling sound coming from her left, turning towards the sound, she indicated a dark silhouette on the wall. Steadily she walked towards the shadow. Her heart pounded as she came closer towards a corner. What would she find around it? She prayed that Lady Jaye had raised the alarm. Another noise almost made her jump. "Steady girl." she muttered under her teeth. A small thump became apparent as something neared her hidden space, gripping her crossbow tightly she set it ready to fire. The sound became more profound as it reached closer. Getting ready for the strike, her heart palpitated in a faster capacity. The sound echoed at her heels, looking downwards and uttered a sign of relief. A pumpkin lay on its side as it had stopped rolling. Suddenly a hand touched her shoulder, making her gasp. Scarlett instantly twisted around as her hands gripped tightly at her weapon as it pointed at a chest.

"Whoa! Easy, Red!" came a familiar voice.

It took her only a second to recognize the voice. "Duke?"

"Yes." Duke said in a concern voice, "Are you trying to tell me something?" looking at her crossbow which had not left it's' target, his heart.

Realizing she still gripped her crossbow, Scarlett lowered it down. "Sorry." as she tried to laugh at his joke. "I think I just spotted the Commander entering this building!"

"Not another sighting!" replied Duke. "I just returned from the Motor Pool, Clutch was positive he just witnessed the Commander driving Cover Girl's Wolverine, as he threw several pies towards him."

"This has to be some sort of prank, Duke." Scarlett said. "What else could it be? He would had been captured by now." She then noticed the black cape that covered Duke's body. "Hmm.. Let me guess. Zorro?" she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Maybe.." said Duke. "I think I forgot my hat in my office. Let me take this to yours." as he took her crossbow. "I will be right back, Miss O'Hara." and with that he gave a bow and walked towards his office.

Scarlett waited for Duke to return, glancing at the darkened hall she was getting concerned. Maybe it was her imagination again. A thumping sound echoed from behind her.

"Duke?" she whispered, as her eyes trailed to the back towards the hallway. But it was too late to react as a black-gloved hand covered her rose lips, smothering the scream that burned in her lungs.

--------------------------

The music blared loudly in the room as several members of the team danced to the beat. The "Monster Mash" echoed throughout the Pit. The room was decorated in orange and black colors, as a sign hung on the wall, "DEAD HOLLYWOOD LIVES" Jack-o-lanterns flickered with a orange glow at each table. A table stood in the back of the room filled with delicious delicacies that Roadblock had prepared. The "Eyeball" punch was everyone's favorite, but the R.I.P. COBRA tombstone cookies surpassed it.

"Anyone seen Scarlett?" asked Lady Jaye. "I thought she came here half an hour ago."

Flint tugged at her braid. "Sorry, have not seen her Dorothy. Come to OZ often?"

Lady Jaye smiled, "Only when I am searching for Scarecrows."

"Well, you have come to right place. I know exactly one Scarecrow here." As he tipped his straw hat letting some of the straw fluttered to the ground.

A breathing sound came from behind them, as a deep voice said, "Flint, the dark side is upon you!"

"Hey! That is some Darth Vader costume Sci-Fi!" said Flint.

"Thanks," the science fiction fanatic answered, "but nothing compares to that outfit right there!"

They all turned to see a headless figure with a flowing cape approach them as it carried a glowing eyed pumpkin.

"Well, if it isn't the Headless Horseman!" said Lady Jaye.

"Snake Eyes? Is that you?" asked Flint.

The Headless Horseman's reply was a nod from its' pumpkin.

From the other side they heard Cover Girl shriek. "Shipwreck! Stay away from me!"

A chuckle followed that remark as Shipwreck dressed in a Robin Hood outfit chased the Maid Marian.

"Hey, nice tights there sailor!" called out Gung Ho.

Shipwrecked winked, "Same to you, your majesty!" referring to G.H.'s King and I attire.

From behind Lady Jaye a white figure appeared causing her to gasp.

"Ha. got you!" said the Mummy.

Flint and Lady Jaye dropped their jaws, "Beach?"

"The one and only!" came the reply from under the wrapping. "Excuse me, I need to find my partners, Abbot and Costello." as he made it through the crowd towards Alpine and Bazooka.

Lady Jaye then spotted Cover Girl heading towards her. "Pheww." the Medieval maiden said, "I finally got rid of him!"

"And how did you manage that?" Lady Jaye asked.

"Easy, the Lone Ranger tied him to a chair." as she pointed to a sad looking Robin Hood as Wild Bill tied the last knot and let out a "Yeeeehhaa!"

Both let out a surprise gasp as Ace passed them.

"Hey Tarzan!" called out Cover Girl, "Your loincloth is about to fall off!" as Ace turned and gave her a sly smile.

Flint on the other hand covered Lady Jaye's eyes. "Sorry Dorothy, you are too young and innocent for that little show." as they all burst into laughter.

"Excuse me, ladies. But have you any chance seen the southern belle Miss Scarlett O' Hara?" came the voice of Recondo dressed as Rhett Butler. "I cannot wait to say that famous, 'Frankly my dear, I do not give a damn.' line to her!"

"I thought she was here already, she left our quarters before I did." said a concerned Lady Jaye.

"Maybe she is with Duke?" suggested Cover Girl. "Where is he by the way?"

Flint answered, "Duke's coming later, there was another Commander sighting."

"What!"

"He went to check it out, probably another false alarm." answered the Scarecrow with a shrug.

"LASSIE! LASSIE!" came a shout to their left as a mop passed them. Lady Jaye did a double take as she spotted Junk Yard with several brown dyed mops on him.

"_Now_ I seen everything!" said Flint with amusement in his voice.

With no warning, the lights flickered and the entire room swept into pitch blackness.

"HEY!" someone called out. "Who turned the lights off?"

A low sounding maniacal laugh embraced the room, sending shivers down several spines.

The lights flickered back on as stone cold silence followed. All eyes traveled to the center of the room. There, a haunting scene had unfolded as they watched in horror their enemy holding in his arms their teammate. Scarlett cringed as the arrow from her own crossbow pointed to her throat. Her eyes darted to the black gloved hand as they traveled up towards the blue uniform and finally landing on the shiny metal mask of Cobra Commander.

"Let her go! You swine!" Gung Ho commanded. "Or I'll personally make you into my new boxing bag!"

A hissing sound was his only reply.

Flint stepped forward, "You are surrounded Commander! Do you really think you will escape with all the Joes surrounding you?" as his eyes narrowed. He looked around to see if anyone had a gun on them. "Blast!" he thought, "Duke and his no weapons."

Cobra Commander tilted his head towards Flint as he pushed the arrow closer to Scarlett's throat.

Several of the Joes moved towards the Commander.

"No!" cried out Flint, "Stay back!"

They had no choice but to obey.

Scarlett closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. Something was not right, she could feel it. She slowly moved her head towards Cobra Commanders' chest "Good." she thought, he did not notice. Glancing at the famous symbol on his left side, she immediately understood what was going on. She only prayed that she was right.

"Flint!" Scarlett warned, "Do not let anyone near him!"

"What? Why?" asked a confused Flint.

Lady Jaye realized what her friend was planning, covering her mouth she only whispered, "Scarlett."

The room stood in a dead silence.

The Commander moved the arrow an inch lower, which was all Scarlett needed. Lifting her right leg, she kicked back on the Commander's knee causing him to grunt. Then twisting her body, she rolled out of his embrace. Her right hand hit his arm with a Karate strike releasing the weapon from his hold. The crossbow landed to the ground with a thud.

Flint stepped forward along with several Joes to capture the Cobra Commander. But was stopped by Scarlett's hand in the air.

"Stop! I repeat, do not come near him!" Scarlett said in a serious tone.

Flint stood mystified, "Why?" he asked once again.

"Because…" Scarlett continued. "He is not the Commander."

Silence followed that announcement.

"WHAT!" cried out Beach Head as he moved next to Flint.

Scarlett turned around as she faced the shiny masked man. "Well, you want to show them? Or me?"

The Commander slowly shook his head and pointed to her.

Everyone in the room stared wide-eyed and speechless as Scarlett stepped forward and slowly took off the Cobra Commander's helmet and the features of the man under the mask became unveiled.

As silence surrounded her, Scarlett only said, "Nice Trick.. Duke."


	7. Chapter seven

"….. I think everyone stood silent for a long time after that unmasking, except for Shipwreck, who passed out with his chair on the floor." as Scarlett ended the story.

"You mean Duke was Cobra Commander?" asked a stunned Falcon. "But how did you figure it all out?"

Scarlett leaned towards Falcon as she crossed her arms on her legs, "Look at the picture."

Falcon took one more look at the picture.

Scarlett then pointed towards the Commander's chest. "See anything peculiar?" she asked him.

Squinting he barely noticed anything out of the ordinary. Then he took a sharp intake. "The symbol!" he announced.

Scarlett nodded, "The outfit that Duke wore had a white Cobra snake symbol, not the red authentic one. But also what really gave it away was the little copywrite symbol of 'Made in China'."

Duke chuckled, "Now you know why she is Counterintelligence. Hawk sent me the extra prototype outfit from the G.I. Joe movie with a small message saying '_Have fun with this.' " _

"So who was the Ghost then?" asked Falcon.

Scarlett shrugged, "The specter still has yet to be unmasked. And probably will not be as Duke's threat is still open."

"oh."

Falcon glanced downwards at the tattered book, he flipped the next page to see more animated pictures staring at him. The picture to the upper right showed Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, Gung Ho, and the Russian October Guard with some over fashionably late Russians. Next to that a nice picture of Lady Jaye and Flint in front of some old looking creepy manor. "Must be where Lady Jaye met that hologram ghost." he thought. The bottom right picture illustrated several Joes on the USS Flagg, all had smiles on them, except the sadness in Shipwrecks' eyes. Falcon stared for a moment at the sad sailor, he noticed that Shipwreck carried a small burned sign. The only words on it, Welcome to Springfield. But the picture directly next to that one caught his attention immediately. He saw one leg at the corner of the picture as it resembled someone running, behind that unknown owner's leg were several Joes, including Cover Girl, Scarlett, Flint, Duke, Snake-Eyes, Beach Head and Lady Jaye. All of their features had one description that came to his mind, _murder!_

"Ok, who is going to explain this one?" asked Falcon.

Cover Girl gave a small hiccup to cover her giggle, "Ok, my turn to play storyteller."

A loud clash of lighting echoed in the room, making them all jump.

"Are you adding special effects to your story too?" asked Duke.

Cover Girl gave him a look, "Maybe…" She then turned towards Falcon, "It all began like any other typical day…a typical Beach Head training session, a COBRA attack on the west coast..and a few Joes trying to relax from the aftermath….

------------ ---------------------- ---------------------------- ----------------- --------------------

Cover Girl barged through the Mess Hall doors as her eyes indicated that she was extremely angry. No angry was not quite the word, more like a volcano bursting with hot lava. Several Joes stopped eating their morning meal, as several forks and spoons fell back on the plates. A few stared at her with open mouths while others tried to swallow the snicker that wanted to escape from their throats.

"WHERE IS HE?" she asked in a distinctive anger sound. "I am going to kill him! Then ship his caucus to Cobra Commander as a gift!" Her eyes traveled through the mostly full mess hall, noticing that he was absent.

No one dared to answer her, they quite knew who she was referring about.

"Anyone going to tell me where he is hiding?" she asked in a lower tone. A few cringed at her voice, they had never witnessed Cover Girl this upset before, even when someone mistakenly mentioned her ex-career. "Even if I have to cover the entire base, I am going to find him. He is not going to get way with this!"

Someone near her gulped, with a brave voice he asked, "Umm.. Cover Girl.. Who.. Whom are you talking about?" She turned to him with a glare that made him sink lower in his chair and for once wishing he were Snake Eyes for the muted ability.

"You know quite _who _!" she snapped with clutched teeth. She leaned forward and grabbed his shirt as his forehead began to profoundly dampen with sweat. "Clutch! If you had anything to do with this with him, I guarantee that I will run you over with the Wolverine and send you both packing to Destro's Castle for that squids' dinner!"

Clutch once more gulped, "I swear, I did not have anything to do with it!"

But before Cover Girl can retaliate to his answer, a voice came from behind her.

"What is going on here?" asked a narrowed eyed Duke.

Cover Girl turned towards her C.O.s' I am not pleased sound, she saw both Flint and Scarlett gasp as at the same instant Clutch heaved a sigh of relief. Cover Girl immediately let go of Clutch's shirt. He coward lower in his chair, afraid to what may happen to him next.

Scarlett took a few steps closer to her, she was the first to ask what the other two high ranked officers were too scared to do. "What happened?" looking closer at the female tank jockey.

"Just say it Scarlett.. It's pink! PINK!" Cover Girl cried.

Flint cleared his throat, "Umm… trying for the new Zarana look?" He took a side step behind Duke from receiving two icy stares from the Joe women.

"Funny. Flint!" came the not amused answer. "Someone.. And I know exactly who..put pink dye in my shampoo bottle!"

"Who do you think is the culprit?" asked Scarlett.

"Who else! That low down sailor! Shipwreck!" Cover Girl exposed.

"Shipwreck? Are you sure?" asked Flint.

"Know anyone else who loves a good practical joke?" she asked back.

"Well..I can think of several Joes that…" Flint tried to answer but was cut off by Duke.

"It can't be Shipwreck." he protested. "I have evidence on that."

Cover Girl and Scarlett turned to him with an "oh?"

Duke nodded, "It cannot be the sailor as he is still on leave."

"L..Leave!" coughed out Cover Girl.

"Then who did it?" asked Flint. Nobody replied.

Duke just shrugged. "But whoever is responsible better not pull another stunt like that! Am I clear?" as his face roamed the room. All of the Joes nodded.

Scarlett took Cover Girl's hand, "Do not worry, it will probably wash off in a few days. Come on, you will feel better after breakfast, I hear Roadblock made French toast and bacon this morning."

Cover Girl nodded as she followed the others towards the counter and grabbed a tray. After filling it with the scrumptious delicacies of Roadblock's cooking, they walked towards the back table near the windows. As they passed by Ace, Wild Bill, Snake Eyes and Ripcord, she heard Ace call out to Duke. "Thanks for the nice new chairs, Top! These cushions are nice and comfy!" Cover Girl grinned, about time the chairs had gotten replaced, the old ones were falling apart. At the table, she took a seat next to Scarlett as she watched both Duke and Flint walk on the other side of the table to sit down.

Scarlett sipped her warm coffee, while Duke went to sit across from her. But as he sat on the brand new chair, they all heard a "ppppfffffffffttttttttttt" noise coming from Duke's chair causing Scarlett to choke on her coffee. She glanced at Flint who stood in silence holding his tray as he was about to sit down himself. Cover Girl choked down a giggle, as Scarlett turned to see Duke's face the same color of the Wolverine driver's hair. "Trying to match Cover Girl?" she asked innocently.

Duke stared silent for a split moment before he uttered a small, "Exuse me."

"That's ok, Duke." said Flint "We all get embarrassed at one point or another." Giving a hard glare on the two women at the table before he sat down next to the first seargent. Flint's eyes shot open as another "ppppfffffffffttttttttt" escaped in the air from his own sitting spot.

That was all both Scarlett and Cover Girl needed, as they burst out laughing. Making several Joes in the room turn towards the foursome.

"What the…" Flint could not finish his sentence.

"Oh, Do not worry Flint, we all get embarrassed at one point or another." Duke repeated the W.O.'s exact words.

"But.. But that was not me!" Flint protested.

Cover Girl swallowed another hiccup, "It is understandable, no worries."

"But it wasn't us!" Duke stated.

Scarlett pushed her tray back and stood up.

"Oh great, now we made Red loose her appetite." grumbled Flint.

Paying no attention to Flint's comment, Scarlett walked around the table and behind them. "Can you please get up?" she asked politely.

Duke and Flint exchanged confused looks, but acknowledged what the redhead requested. Scarlett then bend down at the two chairs, flipping up the brand new cushions, a cry of victory escaped from her vocal chords. Standing back up she threw on the table two brown flat rubbery objects. "Here are your noise makers, gentlemen." as she went back to her seat.

Duke and Flint stared at the objects on the table. "Whoopie cushions!" they both exasperated.

"First my hair, now these?" asked Cover Girl, "This is getting weird. If I known Shipwreck were around we would have had our man, but this..this does not make any sence!"

Duke's next comment made Cover Girl drop her jaw, "Did you know about these cushions, Red?" as he asked Scarlett who had turned white.

"And what does that mean?" she asked back with narrowed eyes.

Duke leaned closer, "I mean, how did you know that the whoopee cushions were on this side of the table?"

"Are you trying to pin this on _me?" _Scarlett replied with a hint of anger in her voice.

Flint covered his eyes, "Oh boy.." shaking his head.

"No, I only want to know is how you determined that these prankish objects were here in the first place!" as Duke's voice raised a bit.

"Do you really think I had anything to do with this low childish prank!" as her own voice became more accelerated.

Cover Girl's eyes glanced to her right as she noticed several Joes staring towards their table at the scene.

"Well, I would not put it past you to get back at me for that Commader incident!" Duke growled.

"WHAT!" Scarlett's eyes shot open. "Are you suggesting that I would stoop so low because of that silly situation! I could had sent you for Court Martial for that!"

"COURT MARTIAL!" Duke's voice boomed over the room. Now everyone's attention was turned towards the table near the windows. "Don't you dare threaten me with Court Martial!"

"And don't you dare insinuate that I placed those whoopee cushions from under your high ranked thrones!" as Scarlett's voice accelerated an octive higher.

"Are you attacking my field command?" Duke growled, "Exuse me, I forgot who I was talking to, Miss smarter than the average Joe!"

Scarlett's eyes blazed back at him, "Smarter than the… why you!" her features turned bright red, "If you have not noticed by now, it was I who have destroyed several of Destro's inventions on the missions! You only the other hand keep getting captured with damsels in distress and not to mention letting Cobra Commader slip through your fingers numerous times!"

"Excuse me! So now you are telling me that it is my fault the Commander is still at large? That I am not capable of commanding this outfit?" Duke growled even louder.

"That is not what I meant and you know it! Typical, twisting the words again!" Scarlett yelled.

Flint looked over towards Cover Girl, they both looked at each other with worry. He glanced around the room, every Joe had stopped what they were doing were listening to the battle within the room.

"Don't you raise your voice at me soldeir!" snarled Duke.

"Oh? And it is fine to raise your voice towards me, Joe Commander!" Scarlett barked back.

Flint started hitting his head on the table. He had to stop this before it escalated any further. Glancing at the two arguing members, he softly said, "Can you two put it at ease, the whole room is listening. You both are under a lot of stress lately from the multiple Cobra attacks and the paperwork, not to mention.."

Duke and Scarlett turned yelling at him, "You keep out of this!" then at each other yelled, "Don't talk to him like that!"

"OK! ENOUGH!" cried out Flint. "You both need some time out or something."

Duke's eyes narrowed, "Excellent idea!" turning to Scarlett he said, "I'll give you plenty of time out writing all of the reports for three weeks and until we need your counterintelligence to save the day again." he added sarcastically.

"They probably call me in again to save you from Cobra's clutches, not to mention one of your damsels!" Scarlett hissed, as her face had turned the same identical color as her hair.

"Scarlett, that is hitting below the belt? Don't you think?" asked Flint.

Scarlett did not reply immediately, her eyes gave an intellectual look until they narrowed, "No, this is!" as Duke eyes shot open from her under the table attack. She pushed her chair back, ignoring the moan coming from the other side of the table and the openmouthed shocked faces, "Knowing your tactics, you will court martial that! And for the record, I had nothing to do with your special sound effects!" With a twist of her long ponytail, she turned and walked out of the room in a dramatic flare.

Cover Girl stared towards Scarlett's dramatic exit. She heard several of the Joes give a small low whistles, followed by Aces' comment, "Did we just enter the Twilight Zone? Usually it is Flint and Jaye who argue like that! "

Duke gave a small growl, as he pushed his own chair backwards knocking it down from the force and limped out of the room.

Flint turned towards a quiet Cover Girl, "Well, guess now I know the other side of the fence. Remind me not to argue with Lady Jaye again."

"Can I have that in writing?" said Cover Girl with a wink, then continued, "I never seen them like this, Flint. They never had argued."

Flint stood up as he gave a heavy sigh, "I know and their timing is perfect, as we got a three hour meeting in ten minutes. Being in the room with those two for that amount of time will feel like the Sahara desert! Hot and silent."

"Good luck with that. Wish Lady Jaye was here, she is good at patching things up. She is coming back this afternoon right?" asked Cover Girl

"Yes, she and the small unit of Joes are schedule to return from the West Coast mission later today." answered Flint. "Well, I will see you later at lunch. Hopefully those two will be on better terms."

Cover Girl gave a supportive smile, "I hope so too. Well, I am off to try to wash out this pink mess."

Flint gave her a crooked grin, "Why? We can use you as Zarana's decoy for the next mission."

"Funny!" Cover Girl glared at him. "Don't make me think it was you who did this to me!"

Flint took two steps back, "I think one argument per meal is all I can handle, I am retreating." and with that he left for the meeting.

Cover Girl looked down at her breakfast, she too had lost her appetite. Retreating both Scarlett's and Duke's trays, she dumped the food in the trashcan next to one of the windows, unnoticing the shadow that traveled by from the outside.

-----------------------------

Hawk entered the meeting room whistling, it was moments like these that he enjoyed being a G.I. Joe member. Most of the time, he could rarely escape from Washington's busy military environment. But spending a few days at the Pit always allowed him to be more relaxed. This is all he needed, a few meetings on COBRA and not the usual budget committee, a few Cobra battles and the satisfaction that the team's winning streak, and a few hours with his favorite people. Looking around the room, he noticed a few of the Joes already there. Hawk smiled to himself as he went to the coffee table on the side of the room and grabbed his mug, poured himself the decaf coffee and mixed two large spoonfuls of sugar. Turning towards the large boardroom table, he took his usual seat in the front. Setting the mug in front of him, he scanned around the room. Something felt uneasy, there something unnerving in the room. He instantly realized that the room was silent, too silent! Looking to his left, he noticed Flint had on a frown upon look in his features, "oh oh," he thought, "Another disagreement with Lady Jaye." He hoped that the argument would not affect the two soldiers. Next to Flint sat Scarlett who had an open file in front of her, but looked tired and pale. She held a untouched coffee mug while she read. Beach Head's chair stood empty, probably giving some of the PT soldiers one of his 'survive my training' specials. Sometimes Beach Head forgot the world around him when he trained and occasionally skipped simple things like meals, entertainment and meetings, such as this one. Across from Scarlett, he noticed Stalker looking a little fidgety, like he was ready to bolt out of the room. Duke's chair next to his remained unoccupied. Hawk gave a questionable look to the others, he thought to himself "Duke is rarely late at meetings. Wonder what is keeping him? Maybe another Shipwreck episode or something."

Flint rose from his chair as he went to get himself some coffee, after the morning scene in the Mess, he needed something with sugar to survive the rest of the day. He also wanted to avoid Hawk's silent question on the whereabouts of the First Sergeant.

Scarlett flipped through the pages of the file, studying the new Cobra weapon that threatened the world. Cobra had developed a new type of virus that threatened all of the world's computer systems. Even though most of Washington's computer systems had several high protective firewalls and other secret protections, Cobra had made an example of their powerful virus by succeeding on destroying the President's private computer.

Hawk watched Flint sit back at his own chair, with another of the frowns in his face. "Definitely a fight with Lady Jaye." he concluded. Checking the clock, he noticed that the meeting should had began a short time ago. Wasting no time on Beach Head's lateness or lack of attendance, he diverted his question towards Duke's absence.

"Anyone know why Duke is delayed?" he boldly asked. The others glanced towards him without answering his question. Hawks' eyebrows raised towards the silent Joes, "Now I am sure something is underfoot." he thought.

Flint cleared his throat as his mouth opened to answer his question. "Duke is…" but his words were never finished as a voice sounded from the doorway.

"Right here." Duke entered the meeting room with a slight limp walking towards his chair. He sat on Hawks' right. "My apologies. I am behind schedule this morning." glancing towards Scarlett, who did not even acknowledge his entrance.

Hawk nodded, "Yes, something was not right in this room." he thought. But out loud he asked, "What happened? An injury from the last Cobra strike?"

Duke narrowed his eyes, "You can say something like that. Sir."

Not wanting to push it further, Hawk began the meeting. There was a chill in the air, and it was not yet winter. That and the fact that Flint cleared his throat.

"Ok, lets get this over with, we cannot waste any more time on the Cobra Computer Virus problem. Intelligence claims that this particular virus attaches at any given email, the virus can inhabit a personal email from a friend, or a professional email from a business or even the government. The virus attaches to the central system of the computer, there has not been a clear period on how long the virus can subdue the system until it destroys it. The CCV creates a slowdown on the computer. The virus can bypass a typical system, it can obliterate it in mere minutes. While on the government computer system it can disassemble the system in a matter of a few hours. The virus also is concealed in the hard drive unknowing to the computers. But this is how Cobra has taken the virus one step ahead. It is timed controlled. The virus is a time bomb. Cobra has given an ultimatum, if the US does not handle over One hundred million dollars in the next forty-eight hours, every government computer on this continent will detonate."

"So in other words Cobra will probably receive the ransom and still set off the Virus." Duke stated.

Hawk nodded, "Exactly."

"Any leads on how to terminate the CCV?" asked Flint.

Hawk turned to the Warrant Officer, "We already have both Breaker and Mainframe working on the problem with some of the highest leading computer technicians intelligence has." turning to Scarlett he asked, "Any leads from your end?"

Scarlett flipped to the third paper of her file, "Nothing yet, but it seems to me that Cobra has injected the Virus into an unknown government computer, from activating the CCV from that particular machine, it will set off a domino affect to the other computers. Locating that infective computer and deciphering the virus before activation, we may have a chance on destroying it."

"Well, there is another Cobra machine for you to destroy." Duke mumbled under his breath as he received an bitter stare from Scarlett.

Hawk glanced from his second in command to the counterintelligence agent. "Yes, it must be one of those days." he thought. "I think I am going to need about seven mugs of coffee today." Hawk picked up the slightly colder coffee mug as he took one long sip. Suddenly his face turned into a ghastly purplish appearance as he started to uncontrollably choke. He grabbed his neck gasping for breath as his throat tasted something vile.

"Hawk!" all of the others shouted.

"Co..oo..fee" Hawk could only spit out.

Scarlett ran towards the coffee table grabbing a water bottle and handed it to Hawk.

"Thank you." he said in a hoarse voice, drinking the water.

Flint picked up his own mug as he sniffed the black liquid inside. "It smells alright." as he tried to take a sip.

"Stop!" cried out Stalker, "It could be full of poison!"

Flint's mouth stood wide open, his cup fell to the ground as the liquid spilled everywhere.

Scarlett returned to the coffee table glancing at the coffee machine, cream and sugar containers. Taking a new mug from the table, she poured a small amount into it. She then bravely took a tiny sip, ignoring the shocked looks from the other men. "hmmm" she said out loud. Then putting down the mug, she took another and poured some cream, again she took another tiny sip. "Okay.." she said again to herself. Lastly, she took a plastic spoon and scooped a small amount of sugar. Scarlett tasted the sugar as she confirmed, "Aha!" while giving off a short hack.

"Scarlett, can you please quit playing Nancy Drew before I take you along with Hawk to the emergency room!" Flint said nervously.

Scarlett headed towards Flint with the sugar container. "Here, taste this." she requested.

Flint stared at her mystified, "Are you insane?"

Scarlett shook her head, "Just give this a little taste."

"Are you trying to poison all of us?" Duke growled.

Scarlett turned and gave him a hard stare. Hawk cringed from her look. Then turning back towards Flint, she asked with a more defiant voice, "Take one taste, trust me."

Flint gulped as he took the spoon and bravely swallowed the content. His features created a sour look as he gave his own hacking sound.

Scarlett scolded to the sour faced Flint, "I said a taste, not a mouthful!"

"Oh great!" said Duke throwing his arms up in the air. "First she gasses us and now she tries to contaminate the entire base!"

Hawk stared opened mouthed, "Gas? Contaminations?" he thought, what the devil was going on here!

Flint made another hacking noise. He tried to speak once more but only a cough escaped from his throat.

Scarlett's features turned to a near explosion point, "Are you trying to pin this on me too!"

"Well, see anyone else in this room that had the opportunity to poison the sugar?" Duke glared back at her.

"Fine!" Scarlett said her tone sharper, "Why don't you then take a taste?" as she pushed the sugar container across the table towards the field commander.

Duke pushed the container back towards her. "I rather eat Cobra Commander's lunch than have a taste of this poisonous substance!"

"It is not poison!" Scarlett shouted back at him. "Taste it and you will find out what this substance really is!"

Duke crossed his arms in front of his chest as he growled back, he would not taste that sugar. He remained silent.

"Duke, stop acting childish and taste the sugar!" came Flint's voice.

Duke gave him a hard look, "Oh? So now you are taking her side?"

Flint winced, he hated being in the middle of this situation. Now he completely understood how the other Joes felt when he and Lady Jaye acted out their own battle wars. "I am not taking either side. Just taste it!"

Hawk kept looking back and forth on the small battle in front of him. Now he fully understood, it wasn't a Flint and Lady Jaye argument, it was _these_ two! Turning to Duke, he commanded, "As your C.O., I command you to taste it. If it is indeed poison, then at least we can all die together!"

Duke's face was unreadable, but everyone in the room knew that he was his own time bomb set to explode. He had no choice but to follow a given command.

Hawk pushed the container in front of the blond man. "Go ahead, taste it."

Duke gave a short growl under his breath while grabbing his own spoon and scooped only a smidge of the white substance. Shakily, he took a taste. His eyes shot open as the flavor spread around the inside of his mouth and down his throat.

Scarlett's foot tapped the floor as she folded her arms across in the front. "Well? Care to share with the class what type of poison you analyzed?"

Duke grunted with a light quiet voice, "Salt."

"Excuse me?" Scarlett said as she gestured an 'I did not quite catch that.'

"Fine! Salt!" Duke yelled.

Hawk had an amused look, "Score point to the redhead." he thought.

Clearing his throat he said, "Alright, I do not know what is going on and I think I do not want to know. But right now we got a virus to locate and destroy. Dismissed for now until further notice. And if anyone sees Beach Head, can you please update him on this meeting, minus the poison part."

Duke looked sheepishly as he gathered his papers and limped out of the room. But Stalker beat him out of the door like dynamite would explode at any moment. Scarlett gave an aggravated sigh as she took her own paperwork and headed towards her office. Leaving Hawk and Flint alone.

Hawk turned to Flint, "Those two fighting? Oh, this is going to be interesting!"

Flint groaned, "Can I take a nice long vacation after this?"

Hawk gave him a crooked smile, "After your public arguments, I think I need several long vacations."

Flint shook his head as they both left the meeting room.

----------------------------

"Hey, JEM!" Clutch yelled from the other side of the garage. He stood there perplexed with an empty toolbox in his hand. "Seen my tools?"

Cover Girl groaned, all day the other members kept calling her nicknames, from PINK, to Zarana and now JEM. She turned towards Clutch with an icy stare. "Why are you asking me? I have not seen your tools anywhere!"

Clutch walked towards her, his face full of annoyance, "Well, you were the one who borrowed them last, so I thought I would ask you first."

Cover Girl shook her head, "Sorry Clutch, but I put them back in your storage cabinet. I have not touched nor used them for a week."

Clutch grunted. "You know this is low."

Cover Girl gave him a puzzled expression, "What is?"

Clutch walked over and leaned against the tank Cover Girl was working on. "You took them, easy as that." he accused.

"WHAT!" Cover Girl stood shocked. "Clutch, I did not take your dumb tools! I have my own if you can remember."

"Come on, pinkie pie! Admit it!" Clutch said with anger in his voice. "Just give them back."

Cover Girl stared at the other mechanic, "Have you lost it? Why on earth would I take your tools?"

Clutch thought for a second, "True, but I looked everywhere and still cannot find them. Permission to look in the Wolverine?"

Sighing, she silently nodded. Cover Girl knew that none of Clutch's tools were in the Wolverine, "Go ahead, and knock yourself out."

Clutch glanced in the Wolverine, he searched almost every corner, finding no visible evidence.

"Happy now?" asked Cover Girl.

"I guess I owe you a apology, Cover Girl. I am just upset that my brand new…" his voice trailed off as he noticed a red clothe in the side of the Wolverine driver's area. He reached in and picked up the red blanket. "I knew it!" Clutch said victorious as his hands held his wrench.

Cover Girl stood flabbergasted, "How on earth did those get in there!"

"See! I was right!" he stated with a grin.

"Clutch, you must believe me, I had no idea they were in there!" Cover Girl said watching Clutch retrieve all of his tools. "This has to be a set up! Just like my hair and Duke's…" she held her tongue on the last part. If the others found out on Dukes' and Flints' musical chairs, it would be all over the base in a matter of minutes.

Before Clutch could retort to her statement, a new voice echoed in the garage.

"WHERE ARE THEY!"

Both Cover Girl and Clutch turned to see one very furious Cross Country.

Clutch turned towards him. "Where are what?" he asked.

"My Country music tapes!" yelled out Cross Country. "They are all gone! GONE! How can I fight in battle without my Dolly!" giving a punch on the side of the Wolverine. "Blasted!"

"Hey! Easy on the Wolverine." said a defensive Cover Girl.

Clutch turned towards her. "Ask Jem over here, she probably knows!"

Cross Country opened his mouth to speak but was cut off from Cover Girl's interception.

"Don't you dare think I had anything to do with your lost tools or his country music tapes!" as her face was full of furry.

Cross Country looked puzzled. "Why would Cover Girl have my tapes?"

"Cause she had my missing tools!" came the answer.

"WHAT!" said Cross Country. "You serious?"

Cover Girl could not handle all this nonsense any longer. "That's it! I need to get out of this crazy loony bin." And with that she stormed out of the garage. Anger consumed her, "Why would they think I had anything to do with their missing items?" she thought. Walking with a brisk step, Cover Girl knew she needed to release the steam. "I think a good run may take care of that." she said to herself. Quickly she went back to her quarters and changed into a PT uniform. Glancing at her self in the mirror, she laughed. "Volunteer PT, Beach Head will go into shock."

Several minutes later she jogged towards Beach Head's PT section of the base. Seeing several groups of Joes running, and going over the obstacle course, she could not glimpse any sign the famous crazy PT Instructor. Shrugging, she decided to run on the trails. Anything to get rid of the heat that burned inside her. Cover Girl took one of the running trails that began from behind the obstacle course area. When she came to the fork in the trail she glanced towards her right.

She noticed several Joes, Wetsuit and Leatherneck jogging in that trail. Not wanting to hear any more arguments for the day, she took the trail to the left. Suddenly she spotted something gray and red in the front. "Hey, Scarlett!" she called out, "Wait up!"

Scarlett turned around as she noticed Cover Girl approach while she stopped jogging. She gave the jockey a questionable look, "What brings you here? Usually you try to get away from PT, instead of adding to it. Punishment?"

Cover Girl shook her head, "No, just need to loose some steam."

Scarlett understood completely, "Same here. I tried to focus on some paperwork, but after an hour I knew I needed an escape." She then told Cover Girl about the meeting, leaving the CCV out of the conversation. "It took great skill to remain calm, then jumping over the board table to strangle him."

Cover Girl burst out laughing.

Scarlett turned towards her, "What is so funny?"

Cover Girl gave one more giggle before she said, "I just pictured you jumping over the table and choking Duke in front of Hawk." this caused both of the women to express amusement from that illusion.

Cover Girl then vented on her own garage occurrence.

"What is this? Argue with a Joe woman day?" asked Scarlett with an annoyed voice.

"Yes, all we need now is Lady Jaye and Flint arguing and we can all be one big happy family!" replied Cover Girl.

Scarlett shook her head, "Jaye's unit is not arriving until later tonight. Seems they located a Cobra Safe house in the West Coast. It can be a possible link towards the mission. So, Duke ordered the unit to seek it out."

"At least they are missing all this fun." said Cover Girl as she tried to uplift the situation. "If I known Shipwreck was on base, we would had our man. But all this does not make any sense, my pink hair, the rigged chairs, the salt, and the missing items. But who is responsible for these pranks?"

They both became startled as a new voice called from above their heads.

"Someone good." a growl like voice stated.

Both of the women glanced up on the trees and gasped.

"Beach Head!" cried out a stunned Cover Girl.

There, swinging in midair and upside down was the very unhappy PT Instructor. Beach Head snarled as he dangled from a rope that tied both of his feet in a tight embrace. Cover Girl hid a snicker as she noticed that the instructor's pants were MIA.

Scarlett looked perplexed, "How did this happen?"

Beach Head gave another snarl before he answered, "Was running my usual routine this morning, when someone jumped behind me from the bushes on the path, covered my face with a paper bag, threw me to the ground, pulled my pants off, I must had blacked out as next thing I know, I was swinging like an circus acrobat in the air!"

"Oh, this is a hoot!" thought Cover Girl as she glanced at Beach Head's dangling upside-down frame. "Didn't know you like smiley faces Beach." she teased making Scarlett burst out a giggle.

"Funny!" barked Beach Head, "Can you two get me down from here?"

"What is the magic word?" asked Cover Girl jokily.

"NOW!" yelled out Beach Head.

"My.. My.. We do have a temper don't we?" she continued to torment him. Turning to Scarlett with a wink, she said. "So, shall we get this poor defenseless creature down? Or continue on our nicely long run?"

Beach Head swung in an angrier movement, "Get me down this instant! Or both of you will have extra PT for life!"

Scarlett grinned, "Well. If you put it that way, how could we not refuse. I'll be right back." as she turned and headed back from the way they had come.

Waiting for Scarlett to return with something in order to rescue Beach Head, Cover Girl looked up at him and smiled, "You know, it is impolite to eavesdrop on other peoples conversations."

"Stuff it!" came the reply. "So, why the pink hair?"

"Stuff it yourself." answered Cover Girl

"Heh!"

It took several minutes for Scarlett to return. Beach Head kept swinging impatiently. Fortunate for him the counterintelligence agent returned holding something. Beach Head's eyes became huge when he identified the object in her hand.

"Are you nuts! Is that how you are going to get me down?" Beach Head snarled with a hint of panic in his brown eyes.

Scarlett looked at the instructor, "Know a better way? I can go back and get some of the men to come and.."

"NO!" cried a more panic Beach Head holding his hands wide. That is all he needed, to be a laughing stock on the base.

Scarlett flung the object in the air swiftly as it missed Beach Heads' body by one tenth of an inch and snapped the rope in half. "I do believe that the men here need to have more etiquette, don't you agree Cover Girl?" as Beach Head's body smashed to the ground.

"Couldn't agree more, Scarlett." answered Cover Girl with whimsical expression as both of them went over to the fallen man and helped him on his feet.

Beach Head's legs trembled from the long hours of dangling in the air. Scarlett and Cover Girl rested his arms over their shoulders to steady the shaky instructor. Beach Head gave a low growl. "I can't believe you threw a throwing star at me! A throwing star! You could had missed and killed me!"

"But, I did not miss." said Scarlett proudly. "And you are welcome."

"But he didn't say thank you, Scarlett." said Cover Girl.

Scarlett grinned, "Oh, he did. Beach Head's way anyway." as all three of them started to walk back towards the base.

"Ummm Beach?" asked Cover Girl. "Any idea where your pants are?"

A snicker came from the other side of the instructor. "I did not see them in the brush either."

Beach Head flared, "I am going to kill him! Just wait til I get my hands on him! That low down sea serpent!"

Cover Girl and Scarlett exchanged puzzled looks. "Who, Beach Head?"

Beach Head growled, "Who, why our own Popeye, that sailor from Hades! Shipwreck!"

"It's not Shipwreck." stated Scarlett. "He is on leave. Duke confirmed it."

Beach Head halted, "So who is responsible for this low down prank? Heads are going to roll!"

Moving slowly towards the Pit, the three steadily walked on the trail. A whistle came from their left as they watched Leatherneck and Wetsuit jog towards them.

"Well lookie here Leatherneck! Wonder what those three were up to?" said a smart-alecky Wetsuit.

"Gee.. Beach, I did not know you had purty knees!" replied Leatherneck.

Beach Head growled while both Scarlett and Cover Girl held him back from going after the two other men. Swinging his fist angrily in the air he bellowed, "Heads will roll! Heads will roll!" as the women dragged him towards the infirmary. They did not notice the shadowy figure which hid behind one of the bushes.

---------------------

By lunchtime most of the base had heard the rumors of the trail sighting. The Mess hall was mostly silent as many of the members were not on speaking terms. Somehow many of them had missing items or had a prank pulled on them. But nobody could unmask the clever prankster. Even Hawk decided to evacuate the premises until the jokes discontinued. Somehow he walked into his office discovering an invasion of frogs. Deciding Duke could handle the situation, he left for Washington.

Duke, Scarlett and Flint worked endless hours in their own offices on the CCV mission. Time was fading fast and the government-infected computer had still not been identified. Beach Head eluded most of the team for the rest of the day, either for the fact he wanted to unmask his culprit or for the fact that the spreading false rumor on the trail. Cover Girl spent most of her hours repairing and tuning most of the tanks. She needed something to escape the teasing and taunting. By lights out, most of them just wanted a simple night of sleep.

-------------------------

The ringing sound echoed in Dukes' earlobes. He tossed over on the bed, pulling the blanket over his head. "Not again!" he grunted as another ring echoed next to him. Lifting his hand he slowly he picked up the receiver.

"Duke here." he answered.

Nothing. Duke slammed the phone receiver creating a clanging noise. He sat up on the bed, "That's it! Whoever is making these prank phone calls, I am going to bust him or _her_ down to Private!" as he emphasized the 'her'. The phone next to him gave another ring. Grunting, Duke tossed a pillow at it making it fall to the carpet with a thump. Pulling off the blanket, he got up. "I'll never get any sleep tonight." he said to himself. Checking the clock next to his bed, he noticed it was only 0300hrs. He shook his head, "Thirty calls tonight!" he growled. Most of the night after he retrieved to his quarters, the phone had not stopped ringing, and when he answered it, there was no one on the other line.

Duke picked up the fallen telephone from the ground, holding the receiver he punched in several numbers, the other side answered almost instantly, "Breaker, this is Duke. Trace all the calls that I received tonight STAT!" and with that he hung up before even receiving a reply.

"No use on going back to bed." he said to himself. Getting up from the warm bed, he changed into something more comfortable. Duke then left his quarters and headed for the gym. He needed a date with his punching bag.

Duke arrived at the gym with no interferences. "Good." he said to himself. Finding himself alone in the quiet room, he walked towards one of the punching bags and started to release his anger. As the bag vibrated with each blow, his mind turned towards the argument with Scarlett. He still felt horrible from the words that had escaped his tongue, but also shocked at the words that had come out from hers.

"Guess I am not the only one who cannot sleep." came a voice from behind him.

Duke turned to find a sluggish looking Flint.

"What's your reason?" Flint asked him.

"Blasted phone calls! Yours?" Duke asked back.

"Door knocks." answered Flint.

"Huh?"

"Some idiot kept knocking on my door most of the night. Could not sleep a wink. I am going to bust him to private when I discover who this prankster prince is!" said an annoyed Flint.

"Or Princess.." stated Duke.

Flint stared at him, "You know, you need to apologize to her." There he played the good friend card, just like Duke had done for him so many times in the past.

Duke silently nodded.

Flint smiled. "Besides, this little argument is making both of you miserable, admit it."

"_Little_ argument?" Duke said as he cleared his throat.

"Hey, compared to my famous ones, this one is a baby." Flint said with a wider grin. "Now move over, I want a piece of that bag."

Duke chuckled, "Okay, you win. Let me guess, Lady Jaye put you upto this. Admit it."

Flint raised his hands in a surrender gesture, "Uncle!"

Duke turned serious, "Any new development?"

Flint shook his head, "She was too exhausted to say much and you will have the report by the morning. But as far as I could understand, no new developments or leads."

Duke gave one more thunderous punch as the bag shook from its strength. "All yours. I am heading to my office where I can sleep in peace." Duke took several steps towards the other side of the gym, but Flint's voice caught his attention.

"Duke, I wouldn't go that way if I were you."

"Oh? And why is so?" Duke asked about the incoming warning.

Flint cleared his throat before an answer came from him, "Snake Eyes is a little irritated at the moment. It seems that someone took all of his ninja throwing stars and glued colored beads on them. He is pretty much targeting anything that moves in that room."

Duke glanced at the door leading to the martial arts room, "Thanks for the warning. Beads you say?"

Flint nodded, "Yes, and some had cute designs on them too. Saw several, a happy face, a star, and several others. But there is one star that made him go in the deep end, the one with a red heart with the words, I love Red. That particular one indeed has Snake Eyes seeing red everywhere. So, unless you want a free hair cut or capitation.. I suggest you head towards the other way."

"Point taken." said Duke. Glancing once more towards the martial arts training room, he bided goodnight to Flint and left for the lumpy couch in his office.

-------------------------

Cover Girl stiffed a yawn as she sat down at the table in the mess hall. She barely had any sleep last night, the prankster had struck again. If she ever found out who kept calling her room all night, that person would be run over with the Wolverine twice, no make it three times! The Jem song rolled through her head from the previous night. Every time she answered her phone, the tune sang in the receiver. Finally, she pulled the phone off the hook for some sleep. If there was any emergency, she knew that the noise would probably wake her up. Or a Sky Striker crashing through her room. She glanced around her while she sipped her coffee.

"Morning." a voice next to her spoke.

Sleepy eyed, she turned towards it. "hmm.."

"Boy, you are worse than I am." said Flint.

"Couldn't sleep too?" she asked.

"Nope, had too many visitors. All invisible I am afraid." he answered.

"Come again?" Cover Girl asked with a puzzled look.

Flint gave an annoyed sigh, "Somebody kept knocking on my door all through the night, when I went to answer it, all I meet was thin air."

"Maybe it was our ghost?" she said trying to break the sourness in Flint's voice.

"Funny." he smiled. "You don't look like you had much sleep last night either."

Cover Girl yawned, "How you guess? My yawning or that my eyes match my hair?"

Flint laughed, "Both."

"Our funny man entertained me all evening with the theme music of Jem and the Holograms. I think the song is permanently engraved in my memory bank now.""

Flint padded her shoulder, "Feel sorry about that." then he asked,

"Seen Scarlett or Duke around?"

Cover Girl nodded, "Scarlett, she walked in a few minutes ago, grabbed a cup of coffee and darted out like the place was on fire. Think she went to her office. Have not seen Duke around"

Flint grinned, "Maybe he is still sleeping on his lumpy couch. Duke had phone calls last night too."

Cover Girl nodded understanding, then she gestured while pointing to the corner of the room, "And Snake Eyes?"

"Trust me, you do not want to know. A small warning, if you want all your body parts intact, I suggest you stay away from the martial arts room for awhile."

"All I needed to know." Cover Girl said, "Well off to PT with our favorite instructor who is on a death warrant rampage. He called the entire team for one of his specials."

"May the Joe force be with you my child." Flint joked. "Hope we find this prankster king before Beach Head eliminates most of the team." He watched as Cover Girl stood up and left for Beach Head's training session.

----------------------------

A knock disturbed Duke's sleep by disorienting him. He fell off the couch with a large thud. Recalling last night's events, he gave a small growl while standing up. He rubbed the back of his neck from the awkward sleeping position. A more profound knock tapped on his door with a small faint. "Duke?"

"Come in." He replied.

The door swung slowly open as a tired looking Lady Jaye walked into his office. "Morning, you look worse than Flint does!" she said.

Duke grumbled. "Don't ask." then spotting the manila folder in her hand, he asked. "The report?"

Lady Jaye nodded as she handed the report to Field Commander. "No new leads on the CCV, we captured a few little snakes, but none are talking. No sign of Cobra Commander or Destro I'm afraid. Passed by Scarlett's office, no new leads from her end either."

Duke glanced at the report then looked up at Lady Jaye. "What happened to you?" he asked her. He had at that moment realized she looked like a disaster.

"Don't get me started!" she growled. "I woke up not only to find that my shampoo was missing, but also my hairdryer, and most of my make up! Whoever took them is getting KP duty til next August!"

Duke nodded in sympathy. "Yeah, we been having some trouble on the base with missing articles, and other practical jokes."

"Scarlett and Flint filled me in about the whole thing last night." Lady Jaye said as she gave him an amused look. "So, did you talk to her yet?"

"Great, she knows about the concert in the mess." Duke thought. He cleared his throat. "Umm.. Was ab.." his sentence was disrupted by Gung Ho and Roadblock charging into his office.

Both Duke and Lady Jaye stood with shocked faces at the two soldiers.

"Duke!" Gung Ho yelled angrily. "Look at us! Just look at us!"

Lady Jaye stared gapping. "What happened?"

Roadblock gave a deep growl before responding, "I do not have a clue, but both of us are blue!" Both of their skins had a deep blue color tint to them.

"Wait til I get my hands on that prank maniac! I will give him something blue, not to mention a lot of black too!" growled Gung Ho.

"How in the blazes did the both of you turn blue?" asked Duke.

Gung Ho grunted as he replied, "Well, we both went for a shower after a session in the gym, and next thing we know, our entire skin had turned this deep shade of blue!"

"Someone put blue dye in the shower caps!" added Roadblock.

Lady Jaye gave a small giggle, all the men turned towards her.

"What so funny?" Gung Ho asked.

"Sorry, but I just cannot help it. All you need is a red snake symbol and you can be both pose as Cobra soldiers." she said.

"Funny!" snarled Gung Ho as both he and Roadblock departed from the office. "Let's see if this blue dye can wash off."

Duke shook his head. "This prankster is getting on my nerves, we got a Cobra computer virus on the loose and the entire base is topsy turvy!"

Lady Jaye nodded, "Well whoever it is, that person is going to have one long punishment. I recommend sending the culprit at the Slaughter house for a month."

"No, Sergeant Slaughter would probably kill me for that." Duke stated.

Lady Jaye grinned, "Well, I am off to see Flint to tell him about the two Smurfs. You on the other hand have to talk to a redhead." as she shoved him out of the door.

------------------------------

Scarlett sat behind her desk as she flipped open another manila file. Her chin tensed while reading the documents that overflowed on the desk. Nothing, she could find nothing from the new information that intelligence sent. Most of the governments' computers had been scanned, and none possessed the CCV activation file. Something triggered in her mind, she must had overlooked some type of clue. Picking up the phone she dialed Breaker's line.

"Breaker," Scarlett said when the computer specialist answered. "Can you possibly run a virus scan on the main computer?"

"Sure, but it can take hours." answered Breaker. "What for?"

"Just one of my hunches." said Scarlett.

"Got it. Will call you if we locate anything, Red."

"Thanks." she said hanging up the phone.

Scarlett heaved a tired sigh as she looked towards the corner of her desk. There stood a light blue vase with a dozen yellow roses. A smile spread across her face, she had discovered the flowers early this morning. "Probably from Duke." she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by the knock on her door.

"Come in." she called out.

The office door opened slightly as a tired looking Duke walked inside.

"Hi." he said in a soft tone.

"Hi, yourself." Scarlett smiled, "Was about to come and thank you."

"Thank me?" he replied confused, as the last time he had seen Scarlett, she was ready to strangle him.

"For the flowers." Scarlett said pointing to the bouquet.

Duke's features turned to a frown, "Sorry, but I did not send any flowers." He walked over towards the vase and picked it up. Studying it, he found no trace of a card.

"Then who could had sent them?" asked a puzzled Scarlett standing up from her chair and walking around her desk. "Not many people know that my favorite color of rose is yellow." She stood now next to Duke.

"Well, not from me obviously, maybe they were sent by your new friend." said Duke in a more stale tone.

"New friend?" Scarlett asked narrowing her eyes, "And what does that mean?"

"Beach Head of course." he stated.

Scarlett stared at him with an open mouth. "Don't tell me you actually believe _those _rumors!"

"Then care to explain what you and Cover Girl were doing in the trails with a Drill Instructor in his underwear!" growled Duke.

"He's jealous." Scarlett thought as she swallowed a giggle.

"Look! His flowers are even dusty!" Duke remarked while his hand brushed against the roses causing yellow dust to float around them.

"Duke! No!" Scarlett warned, but it was too late as her next sound was one loud, "ACHOO!"

"Bless…ah…ah.. ACHOO!" Duke replied.

Both of them started to sneeze uncontrollably.

"That… achoo..is not… achoo… dust." Scarlett tried to explain between the sneezing.

"Achoo.. Yes..I fii..ii..achoo out." Duke replied as his eyes became teary.

Sneezing once more, Scarlett looked more closely at the yellow roses. She noticed the yellow powder had been sprinkled on them.

"Well, you..achoo…better..not..ah..ah..blaim achoo this on me achoo!" Scarlett defended herself.

"Doc.. ACHOO.. now!" sneezed Duke. "Achoo" as another sneeze escaped.

Both of them left Scarlett's office with non-stop sneezing.

-----------------------------

"One Hundred more to go!" bellowed Beach Head as he stared at most of the team doing push ups. "Move it! Or I'll add another fifty!"

"Ugh.. Beach Head.. think you are over doing this?" asked Cover Girl while doing her push-ups. "Remember, I was one of the Joes who helped you."

"Keep going, Jem!" Beach Head snarled. "I am not stopping til one of you confesses!" Groans surrounded his ears. Everyone knew by now about the Beach Head underwear story, not to mention the running rumor of him and the two women Joes.

"But none of us did the prank, Beach!" pleaded Alpine.

"My back is aching." complained Bazooka.

"Cramp!" cried out Footloose as his body fell to the ground, rubbing his thigh.

"100 cranky Beach Heads on the course, 100 cranky Beach heads.. Battle one down, bash him around, 99 cranky Beach Heads on the course." sang Rock n Roll.

"QUIET!" yelled Beach Head. "Just for that, fifty more!" More groans escaped from the tired G.I. Joes. Beach Head smiled devilishly. "This will teach them not to prank on a certain Drill Instructor."

Suddenly Beach Head heard someone sneeze towards his left, turning his head he spotted Duke followed by Scarlett heading towards the infirmary. Both he noticed were sneezing uncontrollably. Shaking his head, he mumbled, "The Prince has struck again."

"Umm.. What you say, Beach?" asked Cover Girl while doing her push-ups.

"Noth.." his answer was never finished as popping sounds surrounded them all. "AMBUSH!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, more of the popping sounds became apparent. "Take Cover!" He dived and shielded Cover Girl, making sure both their heads were firmly on the ground.

"What is going on?" asked a shaky Cover Girl as more popping noises surrounded them.

"Cobra Attack!" He screamed, waiting for more of the gunshots.

"Beach!" cried out Ace, "Those are not gun shots! They are firecrackers!"

"WHAT!" Beach Head bellowed as he raised his head. His face fumed when he noticed the burned firecrackers that rested only a few feet away from them.

"Beach.. Can you get off me, please?" asked a muffled Cover Girl. "I need to breathe."

Beach Head turned towards the tank jockey, realizing he was still shielding her. "Sorry." letting her roll out from his grasp.

"Gee.. Beach, didn't know you cared." said Cover Girl with a dash of humor in her voice.

"Call it even." he said standing up. "Well, thanks to your Prankster Prince, you all are getting 50 more push ups! Let's get a move on people!"

More groans followed as the team once again continued the punishment.

-------------------------

"45.67.8993.…clean." said Mainframe while reading the computer scans. "45.67.8994.. clean..45.67.8995.. clean. 45.67.8996..clean." He stopped from a mere moment to rub his eyes. Turning towards Breaker he asked, "How long we have to do this?"

Breaker put down his chart. "We got to check all the files."

"Ughh.." came the reply. "That is going to take forever." yawning he continued, "45.67.8997... clean, 45.67.8998...clean… 45.67.8999..clean..45.67.9000..infected.. 45.67.9001..clean.."

"What did you just say!" asked a bewildered Breaker.

Mainframe glanced at him, "45.67.9001... Clean."

"No! the one before that." Breaker glanced at the computer screen pointing to the red alert of the infected file.

"Holy cow!" cried out Mainframe. "Cobra infected the computer!"

Breaker nodded, "Get Scarlett in here! Her hunch was right."

Mainframe nodded as he picked up the phone and called Scarlett's office.

--------------------------------

Released from Doc's immediate care, both Duke and Scarlett walked out from the infirmary. Duke turned towards the redhead. "These pranks are getting ridiculous!"

"Agreed." Scarlett said.

"I just.." Duke tried to continue but was cut off from someone calling his name.

"DUKE!" they both heard Airtight bellow as he ran towards them. "Been looking all over the base for you. The Chemical bunker got raided last night. Two small containers are missing, the N20 and the CDU-19."

"What!" Duke voice raged.

"Could it be the Prankster? Or Cobra?" asked Airtight.

Duke shook his head, "Well one of them I'm sure. Let's go." But before any of them could move another voice called out Duke's name. Turning, they saw a Greenshirt running towards them

"Sir, Hawk called and he wants you, Scarlett, Beach Head, Flint and Lady Jaye in the board room immediately."

Duke nodded then he turned towards the counterintelligence agent. "Scarlett, find Beach Head, Flint and Lady Jaye and wait for me in the boardroom."

While Duke and Airtight headed towards the chemical bunkers, Scarlett passed Beach Head's PT area watching her teammates doing push ups. Seeing the Instructor she called out. "Beach Head! Meeting. NOW!" She did not bother to stop to listen to the curse that Beach Head uttered. But the sound of cheering from the others echoed in the background. Scarlett dashed into the main building, she found both Flint and Lady Jaye in Flint's office. She then darted towards her own to pick up the reports.

Walking into her office, Scarlett heard the phone ringing. Picking up the files, she glanced at the phone thinking if to answer it or not. Giving a sigh, she picked up the receiver. "Scarlett here."

"Where have you been!" came the voice of Mainframe from the other end. "We called you three time already. Never mind, can you get down here. Breaker and I just found a infected file in the computer."

Scarlett almost dropped the receiver from her hand. "I'm on my way." Her hunch had been right. She dashed out of her office and ran straight downstairs to the computer room. Entering the room, she found both Breaker and Mainframe with a disk on their dashboard. Not knowing that a shadow emerged from the next room, and was glancing in the computer room.

"We got it!" said a triumphant Breaker.

"Any idea on how to dismember it?" Scarlett asked. Time was running out. They only had a few hours left before Cobra set off the virus.

Breaker nodded, "Yes, I think so." He clicking on his keyboard, Breaker studied the computer screen without blinking. After a few minutes, he said, "Done!" He had successfully deactivated the CCV.

"Phew, that was a close one." said Mainframe.

Scarlett nodded, "Very close. Somehow Cobra infected the Joe's main computer. Only way to do that, is if a Cobra Agent came on the base and uploaded the virus."

"But when was the last time we had an intruder?" asked Breaker. "It could had been months."

Scarlett nodded, "If I am correct it was…" But Scarletts' sentence was never finished, as a small round object rolled pass her feet. "What the.." the small object extracted greenish smoke spreading around the three Joes. The smoke caused them to cough. She saw both Mainframe and Breaker collapse on the floor.

"Gas.." choked out Scarlett as darkness swept over her. The last thing that rang through her ears was a male voice, "Blast! I threw the wrong one!"

---------------------------

Duke paced in the boardroom, he was not thrilled at the moment. Most of the Joes that Hawk called were seated at the board table, only one seat stood vacant. "Where the bloody blue blazes is she?"

"Relax, Duke," came the gentle voice of Lady Jaye. "Both Flint and I spotted her heading for her office. Scarlett must have gone to retrieve the CCV documents. She is probably on the way right now."

Duke nodded, "I hope so. Hawk is going to call any second."

"Well, as we are waiting here, any idea who this Prankster maniac is?" asked Beach Head.

"I do not know, but whoever it is, that person going to have one long punishment, several years I think." said Flint.

Suddenly, a still blue skinned Gung Ho burst into the boardroom. "Duke! We have a situation."

"What is it Gung Ho?" asked Duke.

"I do not know how to tell you this, Duke." Gung Ho said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Someone chemically attacked the computer room, Airtight is on it. But there were three Joes in there during the gas attack."

The Joes in the room held their breaths.

"Who?" Duke asked seriously.

Gung Ho slowly answered, "Mainframe, Breaker and Scarlett."

Duke stood deathly still, feeling his legs turn numb. But he quickly recovered, he knew that this needed his immediate attention. Wasting not even a second longer, he commanded, "Let's go." as he darted out of the room, followed by the rest.

-----------------------

Cover Girl held her breath as she watched Airtight leaned over her friends. She stood outside of the computer room, a clear tight plastic curtain covered the doorway prohibiting anyone to enter. She saw Airtight then bend over picking up a clipboard. He noticed a small round object on the floor, he picked it up and examined it. He nodded his head and put it in his pocket. Cover Girl glanced at her left, several Joes and Greenshirts stood a few feet away, their expressions identical to hers, concern.

"Let us through." came Flint's voice. In seconds, he, Lady Jaye, Duke and Beach Head walked through the crowd.

"Any word?" Duke asked Cover Girl. His voice was full of worry.

"Airtight is in with them." was her shaky reply. She felt someone's arm around her shoulder, glancing she saw it was Beach Heads'.

Duke and the others watched Airtight examine their friends, from Mainframe then Breaker and lastly Scarlett. His face turned to a frown as he stood up and headed towards the hallway. Airtight nodded to Doc and Lifeline to enter the computer room. He then walked towards Duke, handing him the fallen clipboard.

"Now I know where my stolen gas went." said Airtight. "Someone released the CDU-19 in there."

"The Prankster." growled Duke. "How are they?"

"Oh, they will be fine. The CDU-19 is a non-lethal sleeping gas. Judging by the amount released, they will become conscious very soon." Airtight explained. He saw relief flood over the Joes faces.

Doc poked out his head from the doorway, "Duke, you can come in. They are starting to wake."

Duke nodded, as he glanced down at the clipboard. His face turned into a frown. "Flint, take a gander at this." handing over the clipboard to his second in command. "The 45.67.9000 file was infected."

"Well, I'll be damned!" retorted Flint reading the clipboard. "They deactivated the CCV." He turned to face Duke only to find that he was no longer standing next to him.

Duke walked into the computer room. He watched both Breaker and Mainframe stir and wake up with moans.

"Ughh.. Anyone get the license of that pick up truck?" asked a groggy Mainframe.

"Anyone got a bottle of aspirin?" asked a yawning Breaker. He glanced up and saw Duke approaching, "Hey, Duke! We destroyed your killer virus. Scarlett's hunch was on target"

Duke nodded, "Great job, all of you. How you feel?"

Mainframe rubbed his head, "Like we need a small vacation."

"You got it." Duke replied with a grin. Duke turned towards were Doc stood over Scarlett. She had begun to awaken. Relief swept over his mind. He owed her an apology, that and also a dozen roses, but he made a mental note not to get yellow colored ones. Duke kneeled next to her just as her eyes fluttered open.

"What..happened?" she asked him a soft tone.

"Oh.. You got bored on the job and feel asleep." he said with a smile.

"Funny." Scarlett said while she sat up.

"Looks like our Prankster is behind this." Duke explained, and then added, "I'm glad you are ok. I also owe you an apology." There he said it!

"You also owe me breakfast." Scarlett said smiling, "And I can only accept your apology if you accept mine." handing her hand to him.

Duke chuckled as he helped Scarlett up. "Your wish is my command."

Following the others, they exited the computer room.

------------------------------------

"I'm glad you are alight!" said Cover Girl giving a hug to Scarlett. "I swear, if we knew Shipwreck was on base, we would had our Joker!"

Scarlett nodded, "Agreed. But Shipwreck is not supposed to arrive until.." Her sentence was interrupted by a Greenshirts' voice.

"Excuse me Ma'am," he said, "But if you are looking for Shipwreck, he is in the Greenshirts mess hall."

"WHAT!" came the reply from most of the group.

"Can you explain?" asked Duke to the Greenshirt.

"Certainly sir, Shipwreck has been hanging out with us for several days now."

Cover Girl snarled, "That low down son of a …"

"I'm going to KILL HIM!" spoke an angry Flint starting to walk down the hall.

"Not if I get there first." said Gung Ho. "I owe him a good tan, blue and black!" as he began to follow the mob.

They all rushed towards the Greenshirts mess hall. There in the middle of the crowded mess hall, sat a disguised Shipwreck in a Greenshirts' uniform holding a bucket of worms.

"SHIPWRECK!" Duke's voice boomed over the room. He had just spotted the practical joker.

"Get him!" called out Gung Ho.

Shipwreck's features read one thing, "BUSTED!" as he quickly bolted up. Shipwreck jumped over the table and jumped out an open window. "Run Ship!" he heard a Greenshirt holler. He glanced back seeing the other Joes at his heels. Their faces stated one thing, murder! As a few flying beaded throwing stars flew over his head.


	8. Chapter eight

"…and we chased him all over the base." finished Cover Girl.

Falcon bawled over with laughter, "So, what kind of punishment did the poor sailor get?" he asked.

"You name it and he got it." answered Flint. "Between, mine, Dukes', Lady Jayes' G.H.s', Scarletts' and Beach Heads', I do believe he is still serving his sentencing." as they all joined in the laughter.

A dash of thunder roared from above their heads.

"Good Grief!" cried out Lady Jaye, "We even have a picture of _him_?" as she pointed to the recently turned page of the Album.

Falcon glanced down where her index finger was pointing. He gave a small shudder as the face of Serpentor rose to meet him. The picture showed the Cobra Emperor wrestling with Sergeant Slaughter. Falcon did not know which face caused him to shiver more, the snakes' or the Slaughter house instructors'? Next to that showed several Joes, including Hawk, in front of an USS Carrier named 'The Montana". Below that showed Shipwreck with several kids smiling to the camera. Next to that, Falcon's eyes gazed back to a happy looking Lifeline and Bree Van Marc. Falcon turned the page, his eyes showed surprise at another startling image. The picture showed his own brother, holding a stuffed Lion.

"Umm.. I am _not _going to touch that one." said Falcon.

"Good." replied Duke. "Turn the page."

Lady Jaye tsked at the Field Commander, "Oh no! You are not getting off that easy. Tell him the story."

"Second it." said Flint

"Third it." said Scarlett

"Fourth it." said Beach Head

"Fifth it." said Cover Girl

"Tell me!" pleaded Falcon. He was now intrigued on why the others were badgering Duke on explaining the Lion's tale.

"Nope, do not want too." said Duke folding his arms across his chest.

"And you cannot make me."

"Oh, come on Duke, tell him the story." requested Scarlett.

Lady Jaye grinned as she teased, "Poor Conrad want his Foofoo?"

"Sorry, not going to say." Duke stayed stubborn.

"Talk, Joe Commander, you already gave us ulcers for those two days." stated Flint.

"Ok, fine. You win." said a defeated Duke. His arm leaned across towards the coffee table as he grabbed the flashlight. Raising it towards his chin, letting the light shimmer across his features, he let out a childish cackle.

Duke then began the Lions' tale… "It all began when several Joes barged into my office…"

------------ -------------------------- ---------------------- --------------------------- -------------------

Duke sat reading the numerous reports that were left this morning on his desk. Twenty, he counted them twice. And those were from this morning alone, he still had the five from yesterday that he was unable to read. Duke flipped one of the reports open, another Cobra attack. He rubbed the back of his neck as he continued to read. There were so many reports lately he thought to himself, probably from the massive Cobra attacks from around the world. He quickly scanned Flint's report on the Cobra attack in China. Why was Cobra attacking the Wall of China? Flint gave a detailed paragraph on the reasons, adding towards the end, "Maybe they wanted some new recipes for Lo Mien?" Duke rolled his eyes. He turned the paper over to find a smaller sheet had attached accidentally in the report. Duke, opened the small folder letter to find it was a small love note to Lady Jaye. Crumbling it in his hands, he threw the letter in the trash. Shaking his head, he went on to continue to read the report when his office door burst open.

"I'm telling you, it was not my fault!" came an angry snarl.

"Was so! You are the one who broke it!" replied a dissonance voice.

"Did not! It was your foot that did it!" came an angrier reply.

"Yeah, after you threw me at the thing!" came the menacing answer.

"Duke! Tell him!" they both said in unison, pointing to each other.

Duke, closed his eyes before his said in a serious tone, "Stop!"

Both of the men in front of him became silent.

"Explain." he continued in an I am not pleased that you are in my office voice.

"Sure, Wet-face here broke the television in the rec. room." said Leatherneck.

"No Leather-brains, it was you who broke it." retorted Wetsuit.

"Your foot went in it!" replied Leatherneck.

"After you threw me!" said Wetsuit in a louder voice.

"That's QUITE ENOUGH!" barked Duke. He was getting agitated on the numerous quarrels between the Marine and the SEAL. "You are both going to…" another two Joes entering the room interrupted his sentence.

"It was not my fault Bubble brains, you should had swirled to the left, not the right. Like I told you!" came an agitated voice

"But Alpine, I did go to my left." came from the second voice.

"No Bazooka, you went to the right!" explained Alpine.

"Well, next time inform me 'hand you write with.'" said Bazooka.

"Yeah and next time…" went to say Alpine but was intervened by Duke's voice.

"WHAT happened!" Duke growled. "I want answers. Now!"

Alpine gulped, "Well.. Bub.. I mean Bazooka and I both double parachuted from a Sky Striker.. And..well..our target was the roof but airhead here" pointed to Bazooka, "He swirled us to the right instead of the left and crashed into..eh..lets put it nicely.. though a window and into the woman's quarters…right into Scarletts' bedroom."

"Red was mad.. I think she was mad, started yelling in Greek." Bazooka continued the story, scratching his head thinking.

"No, you numskull, that was Gaelic.. Not Greek!" explained Alpine.

"Gae-what?" asked Bazooka.

"She's Irish! Not Greek!"

"Oh.. That makes sense." said a still confused sounding Bazooka. "Yeah, Scarlett said in Irishic to go to your office."

Wetsuit and Leatherneck had both burst into laughter from the illusion of the two other Joes storytelling. Duke was not amused, he slammed the folder he was holding on the desk. WHAM! All eyes, darted towards him.

"You both crashed into her bedroom?" he asked, looking directly into their eyes.

Alpine gulped, "Oh, don't worry Duke. Scarlett was still wearing her robe."

"Yeah.." added Bazooka, "She was about to.." but his words never got finished as Alpine smacked him behind the neck. "Oww.. That hurt."

Duke held his hand up silencing all four of the men in front of him. "Save it. You are all going to.." again the barging of two more Joes interrupted him.

"Duke himself is going to run you over with the Wolverine!" came a fuming voice

"I said I was sorry." replied an apologetic one. "Do we have to tell him?"

"Duke!" cried out Cover Girl, as she leaned over his desk. "Clutch drove the Wolverine last night to impress one of his female friends and brought it back looking something like the _Titanic_!"

"She exaggerating Duke," Clutch tried to cover up his misdoing. "I only took it for an..eh…spin and came back a little mud on it."

"A Little mud!" snarled Cover Girl, "Even the Swamp Thing is cleaner than the Wolverine is right now!"

"But, I said I will wash it!" said Clutch.

"No, you told me to was…"

Duke slammed his fist on the desk, making all six Joes now in the room jump. He was becoming anger by each passing second.

"All of you…" his sentence again was interrupted by another Joe barging in.

"Duke! Shipwreck is using the downstairs hallway for a mop ice hockey game!" screeched Beach Head entering the room. "He almost swiped me with the mop!"

"Ha! Maybe he tried to tell you that it was time for your monthly bath!" said Leatherneck as he fanned his nose.

"Shut-up!" snarled Beach Head.

Duke eyes glazed a slightly red color tint, none noticed.

"Watch it Beach, he will throw you into the Television, like he did with me." said Wetsuit.

"Watch your sea foam mouth!" growled Leatherneck.

"Careful, or he will have Cover Girl here run you over with the Swamp Thing" stated Clutch.

"Ha! Let Bazooka drive the Wolverine, knowing his poor choice of directions he will probably crash into Flints' bathroom!" said Alpine

"HEY!" Bazooka defended himself. "At least I shower!"

"Now see here…" growled Beach Head.

Dukes' jaw became aggressively tensed, none noticed. All of the Joes that had inhabited his office began a small commotion of arguments. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and went to say something at that same instant, two more Joes barged in the door.

"I can't believe you just said that!" came an annoyed male voice.

"What, that you are the most egotistical male I have ever met? Or the fact that you claim you are a Roman God!" hissed a female voice.

"Oh, Exuuuuuuuuse me Miss Lady of Avalon!" replied Flint.

"Well, you are no King Arthur yourself! Hot gas!" growled Lady Jaye.

"I forgot for a second I was talking to a Princess. A pampered high society puppet!" continued Flint.

"And you are.." snapped Lady Jaye back.

Duke snapped his pen in half, but none noticed. He closed his eyes, trying to target the full image of what his office had come to be. A total nuthouse!

"Duke! What are you going to do with the Sailor." came from his right.

"Duke! Tell him he has to buy a new TV!" came from the far left.

"Duke! Make him wash the Wolverine.." came from his left.

"Scarlett is Irish! Not Icelandic, you do-do brain!" came from the front.

"Hercules is cuter than you!" came from near the doorway.

Dukes' hands curled into tight fists as his knuckles turned pure white. Like a ticking bomb, he exploded. Duke banged the desk as hard as possible, at the same instant his whole body shot straight up. He glared with a cold stone stare at the Joes within the room.

Dead silence.

"Out." he said in an almost whispering state. Duke searched at each members face before his voice accelerated. "OUT! EVERYONE OUT RIGHT NOW!" pointing towards the door. Duke's face was full of rage as his breathing had become more profound. "I do not want to see _any_ of you near this doorway for hours! I don't care if even Cobra Commander himself is in right outside to sell me Girl Scout cookies! If I get a glimpse of any of you, the consequence will be deadly! Am I clear!"

Silent nods were his answers as all of the gathered troublemakers retreated to the safety of the hallway.

Duke sat slowly down on his chair, closing his eyes for a split moment. "This place is starting to resemble like an Elementary School, with me as their principal." He thought as he opened the left drawer and took out his Advil.

----------------------------

With several reports in her hands, Scarlett lifted one hand ready to knock on Duke's door. Her knuckle was almost an inch away from the wooden door when a soft "psssst" caught her attention. Her hand frozen in midair, she glanced towards the sound. A few doors down, she saw Flint beckoning her to come over. With a curious glance, she walked towards the Warrant Officer.

Flint put his finger to his lips with a silent, "Shhh." he gestured to the counterintelligence agent to enter the office. Closing the door behind him, he gave a sigh. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you. Duke is having a meltdown."

"Care to explain?" Scarlett asked curiously. Duke, usually held a calm exterior and rarely lost his control.

Flint took a seat behind his desk while he explained the morning explosion in the Field Commander's office. "He doesn't want anyone near him for several hours." he finished.

Scarlett shook her head, "And I thought I was having a rough morning."

Flint took the reports from her and said, "Well, I will give these to him when the coast is clear. Come on, Lady Jaye and the others are waiting for us at the Mess." as he opened the door, and gestured her to come with him.

Both silently passed the First Sergeant's door, with the only sounds coming from Scarlett's heels. Quietly, they walked downstairs towards the mess hall. The main corridor was deserted, probably everyone by now knew of Dukes' unpleasant morning.

Scarlett's heel skidded suddenly causing her to loose her balance. With a swift move, Flint grabbed her arms before she fell to the ground. Retrieving back her balance, she noticed that most of the hallway was a soapy mess with a dozen or so mops and steal buckets in various locations. "What is going on here?"

Flint cleared his throat, "Shipwreck, who else. He is using his punishment as an entertainment. This morning he had a pretty good mop hockey game going in here.

"You're kidding!"

Flint shook his head, "Nope. Duke knows about his little hallway sport. Beach Head saw to that. But have the foggiest where that Sailor is now."

Entering the Mess Hall, they found the damped looking Shipwreck eating his breakfast. He sat near Lady Jaye, Cover Girl, Beach Head, Bazooka, Alpine, Wetsuit and Leatherneck.

"Shipwreck!" Flint called out to the sailor, "Go clean that mess of yours outside before anyone gets hur.." A very large crashing sound coming from outside the hallway interrupted Flint's sentence. A bucket slowly rolled into the mess hall stopping at his feet.

Glancing at Scarlett and at the others, he dashed first out of the Mess with the others close behind.

They all stopped dead in their tracks at the sight that waited for them in the hallway. There, lying in an unusual position, with a mop at his feet and a bucket near his head, was Duke.

"Duke!" cried out Scarlett as she rushed towards him. She kneeled next to him as she called out his name once more, but the Field Commander's eyes remained closed.

Flint stood silent for a split moment analyzing the scene before him.

"Blast you Shipwreck and your mop hockey!" he said, then he turned towards Lady Jaye, "Get Doc in here, STAT!" his answer was a silent nod as she darted off to get the medic.

----------------------------

Duke felt groggily as he gained back consciousness. Blurry figures stared back at him from above. "What happened?" he thought to himself, then realized that he was a victim of Shipwrecks' irresponsible nature. He could hear Flints' lecture the sailor on being careless and childish. His head began to throb, not from the pain of his skull smashing onto the hallway's floor, but from the constant arguments that surrounded him. Why did they constantly act like children?

"Duke? Can you hear me?" came the faint voice of Docs'. His sight began to slight adjust. The blurry figures had now become more visible. Duke's eyes stared back towards the medics' worried expression.

"Hmm.." his response was less than garble. Duke looked from the Doctors' face to the one next to it. Scarlett's face indicated only concern. His eyes then roamed towards the arguing Warrant Officer and the Sailor, then to the others that surrounded him. He closed his eyes once more wishing for once that he could be somewhere else.

"Doc? You think he is alright?" came the worried voice of Scarletts'.

"I am not sure yet, Red. He did take a nasty spill, no thanks to our child over there." Doc responded, pointing towards Shipwreck.

Child? Duke suddenly got a brilliant idea forming in his head. This will be a nice tactic to teach several deserving lessons. He quickly shot his eyes open. "Where am I?" he asked towards the two faces glancing down at him.

"Oh no! He got anorexia!" said Bazooka.

"No, you dummy! You mean amnesia! Not anorexia!" replied Alpine.

Doc gave them both a stern, be quiet look before he turned his attention back to Duke. "Take it easy, you took a nasty fall. How many fingers am I holding?" holding two fingers in the air.

Duke rose his head slightly, "Two." he answered

"Good." nodded Doc, "Now let me help you up against the wall." Doc, with Scarletts' help assisted Duke in a sitting position, leaning him against the wall.

Doc then asked, "Ok, what day is it?"

"Tuesday." came the answer.

"Good, and what is your full name?"

"Conrad Scott Hauser."

Doc nodded in approval. "Good! No amnesia for this patient."

Scarlett smiled as she spoke, "Glad to see you are alight Duke. You had us all worried there for a moment."

Duke watched as the others agreed to her comment. He stared back at her blankly, "Who's Duke?" Silence followed that remark. Both Doc and Scarlett gave each other worried looks.

Doc then cleared his throat before asking, "Duke.. I mean Conrad.. Where do you live?"

"St. Louis, Ohio." came the answer.

"Good!" Doc said, "Now tell me about your family."

"Sure, mother, step father, half brother, half sister and Brenda."

"Brenda?" Scarlett mimicked with raised eyebrows.

Duke nodded towards her, "Yes, Brenda. She is the best dog I ever owned." He could see relief flow out from her face.

"Du.. I mean Conrad. Can you tell me how old are you?" asked Doc.

"Sure!" nodded an enthusiastic Duke. "Six."

Silence surrounded him. All of the Joes stood with open mouths from his response.

"Did he just say Six?" asked a perplexed Flint.

"Umm, Conrad, can you tell us again how old you are?" asked Scarlett.

"Six." came the answer again followed by, "Are you my new teacher?"

Scarlett stared at him silently from the surprised question. Turning towards the medic, she asked, "Doc?"

Doc cleared his throat, "Well, answer him."

Scarlett then turned towards Duke once more, "Apparently so."

"Great! Cause I like you!" said an enthusiastic Duke. He heard several snickers to his left watching Lady Jaye and Cover Girl try swallow their giggles.

Flint gave both the women a stern stare before asking, "Doc, any idea what happened to him?"

Doc stood up, "Apparently, he may have a slight amnesia, thinking he is back during his childhood. Six years old to put it precisely. Now, this is going to be critical, I want both you and Scarlett to help Duke.. I mean Conrad here to gain back his memory. But for now, let him be exactly what he thinks he is, a six year old."

"Can I get up now?" asked Duke from the floor.

Doc nodded helping his C.O. back on his feet. "Conrad, you are going to spend a nice day with Flint and Scarlett here."

"Duke as a six year old! This is going to be one interesting day!" came the voice of Shipwreck. But he quickly retreated away from Flint outraged features.

"Come with me Conrad." said Flint taking Duke's hand and pulling him towards the offices. This is going to be one long day he thought.

Flint escorted Duke to his office. "Guess I am in charge til Duke comes back to his senses." he thought to himself. He wondered how to tell Hawk about the field commanders' condition. But for right now, silence was the word.

"Here, take a seat over there." he gestured at one of the chairs near his desk.

Duke solemnly walked towards the chair and sat timidly. He then asked, "Am I in trouble?"

Flint stared at him with a confused look. "Why you think you are in trouble?" he asked.

"Cause I am in the principal's office." came the answer.

Flint shook his head, "No, Du… Conrad, you are not in trouble." he must get used to calling his C.O. by first name base. That is what Doc had suggested to him and the others.

"Oh, ok." Duke then roamed his eyes around the office. "So what to you do here?"

"I..Let's just say I am the vice principal here, ok?" Flint answered.

"Ok." came the reply.

Flint walked over towards his chair behind the desk and sat down. His own desk consisted various reports, both for reading and several for writing. Flipping open one of the files, he began to read. But several minutes later, he gave an agitated sigh. Looking up at Duke he said, "Do you have to stare?"

"What are you doing?" Duke asked innocently.

"Paperwork on COBRA." came the answer.

"Cobra?"

"Yes, they…they are bad guys." Flint explained. "Ok, now how to explain an international terrorist group to a six year old." He thought. But allowed he said, "You like cartoons?" Duke nodded, "Ok, well there are the good guys and then the bad guys. There is a group called Cobra, who want to take over the world, they do bad things. Well, this country formed another group called G.I. Joe, who try to stop the bad people. Do you understand?"

Duke nodded, "Can I have a piece of paper to draw?"

Flint grinned, "Sure, I do not have any crayons though, but do have some markers I use, so you can use those instead." Flint opened his desk drawer and took out four colored markers. "Here you are. I have green, blue, red and black." He handed Duke the markers along with several sheets of blank paper.

Duke began to draw, "What color is the bad guys inform?"

"Blue." said Flint, " and the good guys are green."

Dukes' next question startled Flint, "Are you the good guy?"

"Yes."

Duke only nodded as he began to draw an illustration on the paper.

Flint continued to read the reports for several minutes until Duke tried to get his attention.

"Look!" Duke stated proudly. Duke had drawn stick figures of Cobras and G.I. Joes fighting. The good guys were apparently winning in the picture.

"Hey, that is pretty good there Conrad." Flint said standing up. "Why Don't you keep drawing? I am going to step out for a few minutes. Ok?" Flint saw Duke nod and then continue to concentrate on his drawing.

Stepping out, Flint felt relieved for a split second. "Maybe Scarlett has some puzzle books or something." he thought. He walked towards her office, knocked and received no answer. "Probably doing a training session." he thought. His stomach suddenly rumbled. Drat! With the chaos that morning, he had forgotten to grab something to eat. Flint took off for the mess hall to get something for him and Duke.

-------------------------

Duke watched as Flint departed his office. He slowly stood up from the chair and walked towards the doorway. Glancing outside, he saw Flint walk towards the Mess Hall. "Good." he thought. "Time to put my plan into action."

Taking the four markers that Flint left him with unattended, he began to draw. Not on the paper, but on Flint's wall. "Flint is going to have a cow." he thought taking the blue marker and started draw little Cobra stick figures.

Ten minutes later, his completed art piece was a masterpiece. A masterpiece in his own mind, but Flint would have a conniption fit. Duke had put on the last piece of the illustration when a booming voice echoed in his ears.

"CONRAD! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Flints' voice echoed. He stood there in utter shock holding a tray in his hands. He stared at the left wall of his office that was now covered with one massive picture of a G.I. Joe fighting off a Cobra attack.

Duke stared at the very upset looking Flint. His lip began to tremble. "I'm sorry." he said in a very small voice.

Flint shook his head, "Ok, now this is nothing to be upset about." He was worried that Duke would start to cry at any given moment. Scarlett would throw several throwing stars at him if he made the C.O. upset. Putting the tray on the desk, he went towards the new art piece on his wall. "Well, it is not the refrigerator."

Duke laughed, "You are not mad?"

"No, a little disappointed but not mad." Flint said. He looked upon the drawing. He recognized the blue stick figures as Cobra troopers, and the green stick figures as Joes. Duke had drawn several Cobra airplanes with the black marker and red bombs dropping from them. The Joe stick figures had weapons in their hands shooting towards the planes and the other Cobra stick figures. He noticed one green stick figure had a triangle on its head. "What's that?" pointing to it.

"That's you!" Duke said proudly.

"Oh, nice. I like my hat." Flint tried to answer pleasantly. Next to stick figure Flint was another stick figure lying on the ground, with some red marker underneath him. He went to ask about that particular stick figure but Duke began to describe the whole scene.

"The Cobra guys came from nowhere. The airplane dropped a lot of bombs and men towards the G. I. Joe team." He pointed at the little parachute stick figures dropping from the planes. "This is you shooting at the planes as the bombs fall." pointing to the stick figure Flint. "and this is Bob, he's dead." pointing to the stick figure lying on the ground next to stick figure Flint.

"Bob's dead?" asked Flint. That explained the red marker.

Duke nodded. "Yeah, Cobra killed Bob, poor Bob."

Flint covered his eyes and shook his head, thinking it was now Scarlett's turn to baby-sit. "Ok, Conrad. How about we go and visit your friend Scarlett. You like her, remember?" the response was a nod. Giving Duke his Chocolate milk, they walked out of Flint's office.

------------------------

Flint and Duke found Scarlett finishing a defense class in the gym.

"Your turn to baby-sit." Flint said to the counterintelligence officer. "I need to finish up the reports on my desk."

"Can't handle a six year old?" asked a teasing Scarlett.

"Flint's mad." said Duke.

Scarlett stared at both of them, "Oh, and why is Flint mad?"

"I drew on the wall." came the reply from Duke.

"Yes, I am the proud owner of a Conrad Hauser original that covers my entire left wall." explained Flint as Scarlett burst out laughing. "Sure, laugh. Your turn." and with that he left Duke with Scarlett.

Scarlett then turned towards Duke, "Remember anything new from this morning?" she asked, only to receive a blank stare. "Ok, probably not. So, what do you want to do?"

"Got any toys?" came the answer.

"Umm, I think Bazooka has baseball cards. But I am not sure if we have any toy cars here. But..I think I have someone that you may like." said Scarlett as she began to walk out of the gym. Duke ran behind her, just like a happy six year old would do. He startled her by taking her hand in his.

"Ok, to hold your hand?" he asked.

Scarlett nodded, "This must be the most awkward hand holding moment I ever had." she thought.

A laugh came from their right, as Shipwreck walked by holding a bucket and mop. "Hey! Conrad!" he called out towards Duke. "Got a crush on the teacher?"

Duke grinned while Scarlett yelled at the sailor, "Shipwreck, get moving or you will be my next target practice for this afternoon's training session!" That made the sailor gulp and scram away immediately.

Scarlett took Duke to her quarters. As they entered the suite, she led him to the bedroom. He noted the broken window from the morning parachute disaster. Scarlett then opened her closet. "I know he is in here." she said out loud. Duke stood with a confused face. Several seconds later, she uttered, "Aha! Found him!" Scarlett lifted her arm and reached towards the high shelf of the closet. She then pulled out a soft cuddly creature in her arms. Holding the orange object, she handed it to Duke. "There you go Conrad. You can play with him if you like."

Duke glanced downwards at the creature in his hands. There, staring back at him was a happy grin of a Lion. The stuffed animal was about 14 inches with a long fluffy mane and tale. Duke smiled at the Lion. Not because of that it was Scarletts' but because of the fact that he was the one who gave her this particular Lion. He had gotten it for her from a London Zoo, when they both were on a Mission. Cobra had tried to snatch animals from various Zoos and clone them for their own army. Of course, the snakes were defeated and the animals were saved. Duke bought her the Lion as a memento.

"So, what is his name?" Duke asked.

"Umm, I do not think he has one. Why don't you name him." said Scarlett gently.

"Ok, how about Foofoo?"

"Foofoo?"

"Yes, for his fuzzy looking mane." he said with a smile.

Scarlett nodded, "Ok, Foofoo it is."

Suddenly the phone in the room rang. Picking it up Scarlett said, "Scarlett here."

Duke identified Flint's voice from the other end. He watched Scarlett answer, "Yes, we will be on our way." then hung up.

Scarlett hung up the receiver as she said, "I'm needed at Flint's office. So, I am going to take you to Cover Girl. She will em..take care of you, til Flint and I come and pick you up. Ok?"

Duke nodded, as he and Scarlett walked out of her quarters, with Foofoo clutched in his arms.

----------------------------

"Clutch! What are you doing?" came the voice of one irritated Cover Girl.

Clutch smiled at the tank jockey as he tried to hide the evidence from behind his hands. "Oh, I am only teaching Conrad here some tricks of the trade."

Duke glanced from one to the other. Neither of them noticed that he slowly sneaked off.

"And teaching him how to cheat in poker is your kind of fun?" growled Cover Girl.

"Relax, Pinkie pie! I am just teaching him some moves." came the reply.

"Fine! Then play old maid or something." Cover Girl said.

"Old maid! But that is a …" but Clutch swallowed his words from the tank jockey's not amused expression. "Ok, fine you win. I'll play the child rated games with him."

"Good." said Cover Girl with her arms crossed.

"Ok, Conrad." said Clutch "Conrad?" he repeated to a now empty chair. "He's gone!"

Cover Girl stood agape, "What do you mean he is gone?" turning around she glanced to find no field commander in the room.

"We better find him or both Scarlett and Flint will have our hides!" as she and Clutch darted off to search.

-------------------------

Duke chuckled as he slowly hid behind the Wolverine. It had taken several minutes for Cover Girl and Clutch to realize he was missing. Glancing in the vehicle, his smile became wide. There in the ignition, were the keys to the Wolverine. "Time for some fun," he thought to himself as he got in and turned on the engine. "Come on Foofoo." he said to the Lion when the machine roared to life.

------------------------

Both Cover Girl and Clutch dashed out of the Motor Pool at full speed crashing into an arguing Wetsuit and Leatherneck.

"Hey! Watch where you going!" cried out Wetsuit.

"Sorry." apologized Cover Girl. "Have either of you seen Duke?"

"Not recently." answered Leatherneck. "Why?"

"Well, Cover Girl lost him." stated Clutch.

"Did not!" protested Cover Girl, "You are the one who lost him!"

"I did nothing of the sort!" yelled Clutch.

"Well, you better go look for him before Scarlett or Flint find out." remarked Leatherneck. "Or you will both be in hot water."

From nowhere Shipwreck holding a mop with a bucket, darted passed all four of them at full speed. "Run for your lives! It's the creature from the dark lagoon!" he yelled.

"What?" asked Clutch confused. "What was all that about?"

Cover Girl stared at the sailor as he ran behind one of the bunkers. "I have not the foggi…" but her words were drowned by a roaring engine sound. Looking from the direction Shipwreck had come, her eyes became huge. Coming towards them at top speed was one large muddy and green covered Wolverine. She stood silently as the vehicle came barring down towards them.

"Look out!" came the warning from Clutch as he tackled Cover Girl to the ground.

Cover Girl lifted her head while she watched the Wolverine pass by them with Duke and his stuffed friend at the wheel.

"Did you just…" she could not finish her sentence.

"Uh huh." nodded Clutch, "We got to stop him before he demolishes most of the base!"

"Agreed." Cover Girl said as she stood up.

Leatherneck came up to them, "You both ok?" he asked as they both nodded.

"Let's go!" cried out Cover Girl running after the Swamp Thing.

Clutch, Leatherneck and Wetsuit looked at one another as they pursued the tank jockey.

"Conrad! Come back here!" Clutch yelled as he ran. "Please! I will give you cookies!"

------------------------

Flint paced in Dukes' office. His features resembled of a man in deep thought. Hawk had called several times already looking for Duke, he kept running out of ideas each time he had talked with the General. The phone by the desk gave another ring. Flint stared at the device and gulped. Probably Hawk again he thought. Flint looked towards Scarlett and Lady Jaye who sat on the couch.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" asked Lady Jaye.

Flint stared at the phone, it now gave its third ring. "I do not think I _want_ to answer it."

Scarlett sighed as she stood up and walked towards the desk. She picked it up on the fifth ring. "Hello?" she calmly said into the receiver. "Oh, Hello General Hawk," she continued with a fake smile on her face. "I'm sorry sir, but Duke is a little occupied at the moment."

Flint listened to the General on the other end rumbled on. He watched Scarlett nod and finish the conversation. "Yes, sir. I will let him know." Flint walked towards the window looking at the obstacle course. He heard her say a goodbye before hanging up. He then turned towards the red head.

Scarlett looked towards Flint. "He is not happy at the moment." shaking her head. "Hawk wants to talk to Duke ASAP. I wish we could have told him."

Flint shook his head, "And find out that his Field Commander is acting like a six year old! I do not think that would be a good idea. I'll keep thinking of excuses for Duke's unavailability until Duke is back to normal. Which I hope is soon! Very soon!"

"Well, you better think of a good excuse soon, because Hawk is calling back in fifteen." Scarlett announced.

Turning back towards the window, the Warrant Officer sighed. Suddenly he heard a rumbling sound coming from the other side of the obstacle course. He watched Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Clutch, Wetsuit and Leatherneck scamper through the course like a Cobra tank was at their heels. He heard them holler as they scattered in different directions.

"What the…" Flint said puzzled. Then his mouth dropped at the sight of the Wolverine chasing those particular Joes. "Oh boy…." slapping his hand hard on his forehead.

Both Scarlett and Lady Jaye scrambled next to him as they peeked out of the window.

"Is that Duke driving the Wolverine?" asked Lady Jaye. "What is that yellow thing he is holding?"

Scarlett stood opened mouth as she watched Duke drive over one of Beach Head's obstacles crumbling it into small pancakes. "There go the hurdles. Beach is not going to be happy."

"Who in HADES gave him the keys to the Wolverine!" growled Flint. He turned and dashed out the door, followed by Scarlett and Lady Jaye.

-----------------------

Duke drove the Wolverine through the course flicking his head back and letting out a child like cackle. He watched Shipwreck, Leatherneck and Wetsuit dive in the mud hole as the Wolverine missed them by inches. Turning his head towards the right he spotted Cover Girl and Clutch running near the tire obstacle. Swiftly he drove the Wolverine in their direction. "Get them Foofoo!" But a booming voice interrupted his pursuit.

"CONRAD! Get out of that vehicle this instant!"

Duke turned to see Flint, Scarlett and Lady Jaye coming towards him. "Oh oh, here comes trouble." he mumbled to the stuffed lion who grinned back at him. "Flint does not look like a happy camper."

Flint watched as the Wolverine turned and headed towards them. "Look out!" he warned to the women. Flints' eyes became more wide when he realized that the vehicle headed straight at him. Turning, he bolted towards the only safe object that stood near him. The flagpole. Grabbing the rope, Flint used all his strength to climb halfway up. The pole vibrated tremendously when the Wolverine smashed into it.

"Oops." came a voice from below him.

Glancing down he saw Duke waving at him with an innocent smile.

"You are grounded!" he said with clutch teeth. Did he just ground Duke? He thought. Flint closed his eyes and rested his head against the pole.

"Flint?" he heard Lady Jaye call from below, "You alright?"

Flint looked down watching Scarlett help Duke out of the Wolverine. Shaking his head he let go of the rope and slide down the pole. "I am not even going to ask how you managed to get the keys." he scolded to the First Sergeant.

"They were in there." Duke shrugged.

"Remind me to give Cover Girl and Clutch a month of KP." grunted Flint. "Come on Duk.. I mean Conrad. We are going inside where nothing can happen."

Duke took two steps towards Flint before turning back towards the Wolverine. "Almost forgot Foofoo!"

"Foofoo?" asked Lady Jaye. "What or who is that?"

Scarlett watched Duke go up towards the Wolverine and grab the stuffed animal from the driver seat. "It's a stuffed lion I gave him to play with."

"You gave him a stuffed toy?" said Flint shaking his head. "We did not have any action figures on the base or something?"

"We do, but if I gave him any of those, some certain Joes will go ballistic to see their collection get played with." Scarlett explained.

"Point taken."

From nowhere Breaker came running towards them, "Flint!" he called towards the Warrant Officer, "Hawk just called and wants to speak immediately to.. Emm. Conrad.. Duke.. I mean."

Flint shook his head, "Alright I will go and take the call."

Scarlett took Dukes' arm, "Come on Conrad, we are going inside."

All of them walked into Dukes' office almost colliding with a fuming Beach Head.

"What happened to my course!" he growled. "It looks like a tank went through it!"

"Actually it was the Wolverine." said Lady Jaye.

"WHAT!"

Just then, they all turned towards the ringing sound from the phone.

"Bet that is Hawk again." guessed Flint. "What excuse should I.. Conrad. No!" but it was too late as he watched Duke run at the desk and grab the receiver.

"Hi Hawkie!" Duke said into the receiver. "There was a big Cobra battle. A lot of those snake men came and airplanes. They threw bombs on the G.I. Joes. Flint shot some parachutes down..and well Bob's dead!" and with that he hang up the phone.

Duke looked up to see Flint, Lady Jaye, Scarlett and Beach Head with shocked expressions.

"You.. You did not just say that.." stumbled Flint as Beach Head burst into laughter.

Scarlett walked towards Duke, "Have a seat, Conrad." sitting him in the chair. "Pretend you are the Principal ok?"

Duke nodded, "Ok."

Beach Head moved on the other side of him, "Want me to tie him to the chair?"

"Beach!" cried out Lady Jaye.

"Just a thought."

The phone began to ring once more causing them to jump.

"I'll give you three guesses." said the Ranger.

Duke went to answer the phone once again but was stopped by Scarletts' gentle hand. She shook her head towards him. She then turned towards Flint watching him close his eyes before he answered the second ring. Scarlett heard the thunderous voice of Hawks' from the other end.

"Yes sir.." Flint nodded, "No sir.. There was no Cobra attack.."

A few more muffled yells could be heard from the other end. Hawk must really be fuming.

Flint gulped adding "No sir, Bob is not dead."

"BOB's DEAD!" Duke yelled as loud as he could. "HE's DE…" he never finished the words because of Beach Heads' hand covered his mouth.

Flint flinched as more of Hawks' words echoed in his ear. "There is no Joe here named Bob, sir" more angry sounds became apparent from the other end, "Yes sir, will have Duke see Doc."

Scarlett heard Flint say a few more "Yes sir." and then quickly hanged up.

"OWWW!" came Beach Heads' growl from the other side of the chair. "He bit me!" shaking his right hand profusely.

Scarlett swallowed a giggle while looking at Dukes' innocent smile. "I think it is time for lunch." Duke nodded with an approval taking both Scarletts' and Lady Jayes' hands he walked out the door with them towards the Mess.

----------------------------

"Here you go Conrad, one peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich on white bread." said Lady Jaye setting the sandwich on the table in front of Duke.

Duke made a scrunched face.

"Ok, what is wrong?" she gently asked him.

"I do not like that." pointing to the crust.

Lady Jaye sighed picking up the sandwich, "Ok, will cut off the crust for you." She then turned and headed back to the kitchen and returning a few minutes later. "Here you go, no crust."

Duke gave off another scrunched face.

"Now what?" asked Lady Jaye.

"It is not cut in triangles." he answered. He knew that this was making her insane.

"Ok, let me go cut this." picking up the plate once more she darted towards the kitchen.

"Hey there, Conrad!" came a voice to his left, "Mind if I sit next to you?" Duke looked up just as Shipwreck sat next to him. "Hey there Foofoo!" patting the Lion sitting on the table. "Having a good time?" the sailor asked.

Duke nodded. He noticed that Shipwreck had gotten Roadblocks' special entrée, which was meatloaf with mashed potatoes. An idea formed in his head. By the end of the meal, the sailor would had never wished he asked that particular question to his Commanding Officer.

Lady Jaye returned with the now cut triangular sandwich. "Here you go. Scarlett is coming with your lemonade. We had to make a batch as we only had em.. Caffeine drinks only."

Duke nodded taking a bite of his PB&J sandwich. He made another face.

"Ok, what is wrong now."

"Don't like the chunky stuff." he said still chewing.

Lady Jaye gave off an irritated sigh, but picked up the plate once more and headed for the kitchen. "I'll make you a new one."

"No crust and cut please." he requested. He heard her give off a small growl while entering the kitchen.


	9. Chapter nine

"So? Want to watch some cartoons later?" asked the sailor taking a bite of his meatloaf.

Duke nodded, "Sure."

Scarlett walked out from the kitchen with a pitcher of Lemonade and a Styrofoam cup. "Here you go, one nice fresh squeezed Lemonade." pouring the yellow liquid in the white cup and handing it to Duke.

Duke took a sip and made a face.

"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"Phaaa. Too sour." came the answer. He heard Shipwreck snicker next to him.

"I'll go make it more sweeter." Scarlett said taking the lemonade pitcher and darted back to the kitchen.

"You got them putty in your hands there, Conrad." stated Shipwreck gesturing towards the Joe women in the kitchen. Seeing Lady Jaye return with the second sandwich and retreat back before Duke could object or find anything wrong with his second lunch.

Duke looked at Shipwrecks' plate, he noticed that the sailor left his fork on the plate. Swiftly, he picked up the fork with a load full of mashed potatoes and flicked it at the back of Gung Ho's pearly white head.

Taking a big chunk out of his sandwich he chewed slowly, waiting for the explotion. He did not have to wait long.

"What in sam hill!" cried out Gung Ho twisting around in his chair and giving a menacing look towards the sailor. "I am going to kill you! Shipwreck!"

Shipwreck stared open mouthed, "But it wasn't me!" he protested.

"And who else could had been!" Gung Ho growled. "I do not see anyone else near you with mashed potatoes!"

"He did it!" pointing to Duke.

"Sure, blame the person who is nicely sitting next to you and eating a sandwich!" Gung Ho grabbed his own fork and swung a largely mass of mashed potatoes at the sailor, who ducked just in time, but the soft substance hit Mainframe on the chest.

"What the.." Mainframe grabbed his own fork and retaliated the attack. Which both Shipwreck and Gung Ho diverted but Bazooka had no luck.

"FOOD Fight!"

Chaos exploded as the quiet atmosphere became a ragging battlefield of flying food. The Mess Hall was quickly transformed into a potato disaster with flying white substance in most every corner.

Duke retreated under the table holding his lemonade and Foofoo. He was not going to intervine into this battle.

"What's going on here?" came the voice of Scarletts' coming from the kitchen. Seeing the battle zone in the mess, she quickly grabbed Duke by the hand and esorted him out of the room without getting a single hit. Lady Jaye was not so lucky, when Ace targeted her with the meatloaf. Scarlett watched Lady Jaye counterattack to the airborn pilot. "Oh, this is not good."

Flint ran towards the Mess, "What the devil is going on in there?"

"Food fight!" grinned Duke.

Flint shook his head, "Let me guess, the guy in blue and a white hat right?" Duke gave him no answer. "I'll handle this." entering the now disastrous Mess Hall. "EVERYONE FREEZE!" came his thunderous yell from inside the cafeteria. Silence followed that order.

Duke saw Lady Jaye exit the Mess covered with a mass of white mashed potatoes.

"You look like Frosty!" he said with a grin beginning to sway slowly.

"Ehh.. Thanks. I always try to look a bit chilled." came the reply causing both Duke and Scarlett to laugh.

Scarlett noticed Duke swaying posture. "What is wrong, Conrad?"

"Umm.." Duke said while constantly changing he weight from one leg to the other. "I think I need to go."

"Go? Go where?" asked Lady Jaye, then instantly realized what he meant. Changing similar glances with Scarlett they both yelled out,

"FLINT!"

Flint burst out of the Mess Hall from the womens' beckoning call. "What? Is something wrong? Did Duke remember?"

Shaking her head, Scarlett answered, "Umm.. That is not it. Conrad here has to use the little boys' room." gesturing now to a more accelerated swaying first sergeant.

"Oh!" realized Flint. "Emm..ok, I'll take him." seeing the relief passing from both the female soldeirs faces. "But if I need to unbuckle anything, I am going to need several years of therapy!" making the women snicker. "Sure, laugh. Can you two take over the mess inside?" They nodded and walked back into the Mess Hall.

"Shipwreck! Put that chair down this instant!" Flint heard Scarlett yell. He shook his head. "We got two six year olds." he thought.

Turning towards Duke he said, "Ok, follow me."

Duke nodded, none of them noticed that he still held on to the lemonade, which was hidden behind his back. He followed Flint down the hall.

"Need any help?" Flint gulped when he asked the question.

Duke shook his head, "No, I can do it."

Nodding, Flint opened the door to the men's bathroom for his C.O. "Call me if you need anything. Don't forget to wash your hands!" He did not just say that, he thought.

Duke entered the men's room glancing around, he made several noises indicating to Flint that he was occupied. Taking the lemonade filled paper cup, he spilled the liquid on the floor. Nodding in approval, Duke turned and washed his hands. Throwing the evidence away, he knew that there was no way Flint would know the truth. With a sly grin in the mirror, he left the bathroom.

He found Flint leaning against the wall, "Everything alright, Conrad?"

Duke gave him a small pout, "I.. I had a small accident." gesturing in the bathroom. Hawk would had given a million dollars for Flints' expression just then.

"Accident?" Flint said perplexed, He slowly opened the door and looked inside, "Oh.. I see." seeing the yellow liquid on the floor. "No worries, I'll have Shipwreck clean that up."

Duke nodded.

"Umm, let's take you to the rec room for the rest of the afternoon. I know Bazooka and Alpine will have a lot of shows for you to watch." stated Flint.

They both began to walk together down the hall, when a booming voice, followed by a large thump echoed from the bathroom.

"MOTHER OF PEARL!" came the voice of Beach Heads'.

Flint leaned over to Duke and whispered, "Run!" as they dashed out of there faster than a snake could slither.

----------------------

"96..97..98...99...100.. Ready or not here I come!" Alpine shouted in the empty rec. room. Alpine shook his head, taking care of a child was harder that it looked, for the past four hours both he and Bazooka had watched several series of cartoons with Duke on the 13 inch black and white screen television. The one that usually occupied the rec. room was now in the graveyard of televisions down in the storage room. Alpine hoped that the team would receive a new 52 inch soon. Duke had then become uninterested in the evening news, so they decided to play every child's favorite game, hide and seek.

Alpine heard a snicker to his left, coming from the couch near the wall, there he noticed a rump sticking out from the back with two legs, Bazooka! Glancing around he did not see Duke anywhere. "Hmm, bet Duke is a better player in this game, then bubble brains over there."

Sneaking slowly behind Bazooka he grabbed him by the leg, "Found you!"

Bazooka gave a small utter of sadness, "Oh man, already pop?" chewing on his gum.

"Come on, let's find Duke." stated Alpine.

Bazooka nodded, "Duke! Here Duke!" he called out.

Alpine smacked him on the head with his hat, "What are you doing? You sound like calling a dog! And if you remember, he is not going to answer to Duke!"

Both Bazooka and Alpine searched the entire room and found it empty. "Oh oh, I hope he did not wander off from this room." Alpine said in concern. "Red is going to kill us for sure!"

Several Joes walked in finding both Alpine and Bazooka searching every inch of the room.

Ace looked at them puzzled, "What are you both looking for?"

"A six foot two blond six year old." came the answer. Alpine stood up "Can you please help us search?"

"What were you doing?" asked a bewildered Roadblock looking at Bazooka who was now searching under the rug.

"Duke, Here Duke! pop Come out, come out where ever you are." Bazooka said while chewing.

Alpine shook his head, "We were playing a nice game of Hide and Seek." he answered at the Heavy gunner, "Bazooka! Do you really think Duke is under that rug!"

"Come on, Let's help them look boys." said Gung Ho. "Conrad! Hey Conrad! Come out! Game is over!" silence was his only answer. "Guess he is not in here."

"Oh great!" said Alpine. "Scarlett is going to have me as her next target practice!"

Ace patted Alpine on the shoulder, "We are going to miss you, buddy."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Anytime."

All of them began the search for the missing first sergeant. Searching the hallways and several rooms, they still could not locate their apparently well-hidden field commander.

"Conrad! You in here?" whispered Alpine as he opened the door to the computer room. Glancing left and then right, he only spotted Breaker and Mainframe at the computers. "Did you notice a six foot two child on those screens by any chance?"

"Nope." came the answer from Breaker, "Let me guess, you lost him."

Alpine nodded without saying a word.

"Does Scarlett or Flint know?"

Alpine shook his head, "And I pray they do not find out. From this mornings' Wolverine incident, they are not going to be too pleased. If you see anything in the screens, let me know." with that, he left the room in haste still continuing the search.

He found Ace and Roadblock near the obstacle course, "We searched the Motor Pool and the Striker bunkers, but nothing." said Ace. "We are now heading for the Mess. Bazooka and Gung Ho went to check at the barracks and Clutch and Cover Girl are searching in Beach Heads' course, which leaves…"

"Me to search at the gym area." Alpine finished. He prayed that the red headed karate instructor had finished the afternoon sessions. He steadily walked towards the training rooms, opening the door slightly, he glanced inside the darkened room. "Good, no sign of Red." he thought.

"Conrad, you in here?" he whispered. "Please be here." Alpine entered the room walking towards the locker room. "That is a good place to hide." he thought.

"Alpine! What are you doing here?" came the voice of Scarletts' from behind him.

Alpine twisted to find an not amused counter intelligence officer, with a gulp he stumbled, "I..I…".

"You what?"

"I..I was looking for something." he cringed.

"Looking for _what_? she said with narrowed eyes.

"I lost something.."

"Lost _what? _" Scarletts' voice trended into a serious tone. "I want an answer..1...2.…"

Alpine took cover behind one of the kick boxing bags, "An..a.. six foot two.."

"You _lost_ Duke!" came the reply.

Nodding with closed eyes, he prayed that she would not send throwing stars his way. Blast, she could see right through him.

Grabbing him by the ear, Scarlett pulled Alpine out from the gym, "Move, we got to search for him."

"We are, got some of the boys searching too." Alpine gulped. "Yes, going to be target practice tomorrow morning." he thought.

"What were you doing?"

"Playing Hide and Seek, didn't know Conrad could hide so well." he smirked.

Scarlett was not amused. She noticed some of the others searching near the obstacle course and the barracks, and some returning from the main building. Signaling them over, the answer was clear that none had found him.

"Alright, new plan." she said, "Looks that you all like to play games, so.. The first person to find Duke gets a weekend pass."

"Now this is a game I like!" came the reply from Ace. "Weekend pass here I come!"

"Not if I find him first!" came from Clutch.

Shaking her head, Scarlett simply commanded, "Move it!" No one had to be told twice, they scrambled off in various directions calling out Dukes' name. Looking up at the dark sky, a mass of thunderclouds quickly soared above the Pit. With a flash of lightning, the rain started to pound on the ground. She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw it was Roadblocks', "No need to worry, we will find Duke in a hurry."

Scarlett silently nodded. "I hope so." she said concerned.

"You missed your calling, you would had been an excellent teacher."

Watching Bazooka jump into a puddle, and dance around, she answered, "Hmm, with some of the men on this team, I think I already am one." making Roadblock chuckle. Turning, she headed for the main building.

------------------------------

Scarlett walked through the mostly empty hallways of the Pit. Most of the Joes were probably at Mess Hall as it was dinnertime. Stopping there first to see if Duke had gone there, her search was fruitless. No Conrad and no Foofoo around. Spotting Flint and Lady Jaye at a corner table, she walked towards them.

"Flint, we got a situation."

Concerned, Flint asked, "What happened now?"

"Alpine and Bazooka were playing Hide and Seek with Duke this afternoon. Now, we cannot seem to locate him."

"WHAT!" came the reply from both Lady Jaye and Flint.

"I got some of the men searching outside. But still no sign of him."

Standing from her chair, Lady Jaye suggested, "Let's look in the offices."

Flint nodded, "Remind me later to duck tape both Bazooka and Alpine on the Wolverine and have Duke with his pet stuffed Lion drive them all over the base. We should split up and cover more ground that way "

Nodding Scarlett added, "Oh, for motivation on the search, I added a free weekend pass to the person who finds Duke first."

"Weekend pass here I come!" said Lady Jaye bolting out of the room like a flash of lightning.

"Not on your Broadway life!" retorted Flint following Lady Jaye.

Glancing about her, Scarlett noticed that several of the Joes had listened in on the conversation. "That goes for anyone here too."

Squeaking sounds came apparent as a dozen or so Joes pushed their chairs back and dashed out of the room to hunt for the fearless leader.

"Maybe I should use this motivation thing more often during training sessions." said Scarlett smiling to herself.

Coming out of the Mess, she could clearly here numerous voices calling out Dukes' name and even Foofoos'. Shaking her head, Scarlett headed for Dukes' office. Opening the door, her eyes roamed over the darkened space. Nothing. Scarlett checked, Flints', Beach Heads' and Lady Jayes' offices, still her search had found no trace of field commander. A clanging sound caught her attention. It was coming from her own office. Turning the knob at the door, it clicked easily.

"Hmm..I know I left the door locked." taking out her small pistol from her boot.

Walking slowly in the room, only darkness embraced her. Her eyes skimmed slowly around the space. Looking down on the floor, she noted that the phone and the receiver had fallen from her desk. "Someone is in here." she thought. Her military second nature took over.

"Conrad? Is that you?" she called out. Only silence greeted her question. "Alright, then whoever you are, identify yourself!" nothing.

Strolling around the desk, Scarlett closed in towards the only place someone would possibly hide in the room, the closet. With her pistol on fire, she readied herself at what she would find in there. Suddenly, a hand reached from under the desk, grabbing her foot and causing her to fall with an "Ommphh."

Glancing from the hand then to under the table, the silhouette of Duke clutching his stuffed friend greeted her.

"There you are!" reaching her hand and gently brought Duke out from his hiding spot.

"Hi Scarlett!" he said with a grin. But his grin instantly vanished from seeing Scarletts' I am not pleased look. "Oh oh.."

"Oh oh, is righto. You been here all this time? We have been searching all over for you." Scarlett scolded.

Duke looked down at Foofoo. "Emm..well..I went back to look for Foofoo, I forgot him under the table during Lunch. Then I went back to find Alpine and Bazooka and they were not there.. So walked around..and hid in here..guess you found me, so you won."

"Not to mention winning my own weakened pass." Scarlett mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Let's go to dinner. Most of the Joes are probably back there already."

Duke nodded happily, he was glad Scarlett was not upset with him. But he was also pleased as his plan was making most of them go insane. "Want to hold Foofoo?"

"Certainly." Scarlett obliged taking the stuff Lion. Together, they headed towards the Mess Hall. Once again, Duke took Scarletts' hand while walking. Scarlett gave a side-glance at him, "He is enjoying this, enjoying this a little too much." she thought.

Entering the cafeteria, sounds of, "Ahh, she found him" and "There goes my chance for the weekend pass." surrounded them.

Shipwreck winked at the them from one of the corners of the room. Holding several towels in his hands, he continued to wash off the remaining evidence of the mashed potato disaster. He opened his mouth to say something, but was immediate stopped from Scarlett's icy stare.

"One word Sailor and I will personally add four more weeks of KP."

Finding Flint, Lady Jaye, Cover Girl, Beach Head at one table, they sat down.

"Where was he?" asked Flint looking straight at his C.O.

"In my office, under the desk.." came the answer. "Didn't notice him, til he had grabbed onto my leg causing me to loose my balance."

Flint gave off a guffaw.

Scarlett gave him a sly smile, "Sure laugh Mr. Roman God, tonight you are sleeping in Conrads' room with him." that made Flints' jaw drop faster than the lightning that struck outside the window and causing more fits of laughter from the table.

-------------------------

The ringing sound echoed in Scarletts' ears. Turning over with a moan and flipping on the lamp next to her bed, she picked up the receiver.

"Scarlett." her voice was barely audible in the receiver.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" came the whisper from the other end.

Glancing at the clock next to her, she gave off another annoyed sound, "No Flint, I was doing some 1 A.M. exercises."

"oh, Good…then.. Umm…." Flint stuttered. "Glad I did not wake you then."

Rolling her eyes Scarlett asked, "Ok, spill it. I know this is not a social call or you would had been calling the Lady next door."

"It's.. umm.. Duke." came the shaky answer.

Scarlett bolted straight up in bed, "Is he alright? Did something happen?"

Flint stayed silent.

"Flint! Out with it!" she demanded.

She heard Flint give a long sigh before he finally admitted. "Scarlett, I need help! Conrad cannot sleep. I tried everything, watching a movie, given him a drink, relax it was milk not the hard stuff. He scared of something.." a bumping sound was then heard from the background. "Conrad!"

"Flint! Is he alright?" Scarlett shouted into the receiver. "I'm on my way." hanging up the phone, she quickly got up from the soft bed and dressed in a sporty black pants with a blue top. Scarlett glanced outside the blustery weather that had surrounded the base, she was glad that the broken window from that morning had been repaired from maintenance.

Heading towards the door, she stopped from the grumbling sound coming from Lady Jayes' room. "Who was that on the phone?" came the groggily question.

Peaking inside, she answered a still sleeping Lady Jaye, "Your Roman God cannot handle the babysitting, he is requesting backup."

"Hmmph.. What time is it? Feels like it is the middle of the night."

Scarlett grinned, "One A.M., go back to sleep. Remind me not have kids when I get married."

A waving hand came out from underneath the comforter, "Only, if you remind me as well. Have fun…" Lady Jayes' voice slurred as a snore came from under the blankets.

Shaking her head, Scarlett closed the door behind her and headed straight to Dukes' quarters. A panicky Flint beckoned her inside.

"What took you so long!" he asked.

"Sorry, I had to finish writing my novel."

Flint grunted, "Funny!"

"Where is Duke?" she asked calmly.

Flint pointed into the bedroom, "In there.. But he.." his sentence went unfinished as the redhead headed in that direction.

Scarlett walked in the bedroom to find a large lump sitting up on the bed. There, under the blankets was a shivering field commander.

She turned to Flint who leaned against the doorway. "Any change?"

Flint shook his head, "Doc was here earlier to check on him, nothing. Duke still thinks that he is six years old."

Scarlett gently pulled off the comforter from Dukes' head. "Hello." she said softly. She discovered that Foofoo was being held tightly in Dukes' embrace.

Duke stared at her for a split moment before he answered back with a slow, "Hi."

Noticing that his eyes shook with fear, Scarlett gently asked, "Something bothering you?"

A slow nod was her reply followed by Duke pointing towards the closet. "Monster." he whispered softly.

"Monster?" came the repeated word from the doorway.

Scarlett turned to Flint, "He thinks that there is a monster in the closet. Typical six year old petrified reaction of the dark."

"Thank you Dr. Ruth."

Scarlett gave him an ice cold glance, "Go on Flint, check the closet for any monsters."

Flint growled, but walked towards the closet and checked, "No monsters here, only a few skeletons."

"FLINT!" Scarlett scolded.

"What? Don't tell me you do not have a few skeletons in _your _closet." Flint said with a smirk on his face.

Dukes' shivering became more accelerated. "Bed?" he asked pointing now under the bed.

Flint rolled his eyes, "Alright, I'll check under there too. Hey, Oscar The Grouch! I am coming in! make room!"

"You're impossible!"

Flint gave her a grin while sliding down on his belly and his hands felt under the bed. "Yeaaaaaaaoooow!"

Both Scarlett and Duke jumped from Flints' scream.

"The monster got him!" Duke yelled, now holding tightly onto Scarlett for dear life.

Flint slowly stood up from the floor, his features showed great pain. "No, not the monster. This bloody mouse trap got me." On his left hand was a wooden mousetrap crushing his four fingers. "Can someone please take this thing off of me." he pleaded.

"Sure Flint I'll be glad too, if only Conrad here releases me first." Scarlett requested.

Dukes' features turned bright pink letting go of Scarlett. "Glad it was no monster."

Taking off the wooden mousetrap from Flints' now red swollen fingers and throwing it into the garbage can, Scarlett suggested that they go into the other room.

"We already watched a movie, Red. It did not help." stated Flint. "The warm milk did not help either."

"Did you sing him a lullaby too?" Scarlett teased.

Flint made a face at her. Stiffing a yawn, "No, I rather have another mouse trap on me then sing a lullaby."

Suddenly a roar of thunder echoed from outside, sensing this was the perfect opportunity, Duke let out a blood chilling scream. Causing both of them to unleash their own sounds.

"Why you did that for?" asked a bewildered Flint towards a now scared out of his wits Duke.

Duke shyly answered, "Thunder. It's scary."

Scarlett walked up towards Duke, putting a hand over his shoulder, "That is alright Conrad, a lot of people are afraid of thunder. There is nothing to be scared of, just think of Giants playing a bowling game in the sky."

A thunderous pounding sound came from the doorway. "Open UP!" came a yell from the other side.

Flint went and opened the door, there standing in his unmentionables, was one very sleepy-eyed not amused Beach Head.

"Are we under a Cobra attack? I heard screams."

"No Beach Head, we are fine. No snakes. Just go back to bed. We only had a thunder scare, that is all."

A very agitated Beach Head nodded, shook his head and closed the door behind him.

"Ok, I am now going to have dreams of Beach in his underwear all week!" came the shock statement from Scarlett.

"Well, be glad Beach Head was _wearing _his underwear tonight." remarked Flint causing the red head to shudder.

Sitting on the couch, Duke glanced from the counterintelligence officer to the Warrant Officer, they both looked exhausted. His features slowly turned into a grin. "This is the best punishment I ever came up with." he thought. His eyes began to dance while thinking of another tortuous task. "How about a story?"

"Uhh..uh.." came from Flint. "I do not know many children tales, how about Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood?" he suggested.

Duke gave him a face, "Girl stuff!" holding tighter to his Lion, "Foofoo wants a adventure story."

"Peter Pan?"

Duke shook his head. "How about G.I. Joe and Cobra stories." he requested.

Scarlett gave him a curious glance. "Well.. That maybe a good idea." looking at Flint she added, "It could help him with his memory."

Flint gave in, "Anything to get this place back to normal!" sitting in the recliner next to the couch.

Duke gave out a happy yelp, as he jumped off the couch and on top of Flints' lap. "Tell me story!"

"Ommphh…" came from an air deprived Flint, "Glad too.. But could you go back on the couch? I tell better stories with my hands free." He did not want the six foot two almost two hundred pound field commander on his lap.

Scarlett stiffed a giggle at the sight in front of her. "You should see yourself now Flint. I cannot wait to tell.."

"You do and I will put you on KP duty for a month." came the answer.

Scarlett grinned, "True, but it will be worth it." Scarlett then patted the couch, "Come on Conrad, off from Uncle Flint.. His legs are not what they used to be."

Duke nodded and jumped on the couch holding Foofoo.

For the next few hours both Flint and Scarlett took turns telling various missions and adventures from Dukes' past. Duke kept an intriguing face on as he never heard or lived any of the tales. But inside, his entire body shook with laughter.

"..and that is how the Joes won the battle and saved the worlds' oil." Flint finished giving off a yawn. Checking his watch, it now read 4 A.M. And Duke still had not slept. Glancing towards the red head, Flint noticed that her eyes were closed.

"Psst.. Conrad." he whispered, "Look at Scarlett." pointing to the counterintelligence officer who was sound asleep on the couch.

Duke turned to see Scarletts' head resting peacefully on the corner of the couch. Turning towards Flint and gave an evil grin at the Warrant Officer. He then twisted back towards the sleeping woman, with a silent move, he pinched close Scarletts' nose.

Scarletts' eyes shot open, "Nat fahhnee."

Duke burst into laughter along with Flint.

"Ok, Conrad.. It emm.. Way past your bedtime. Time to hit the hay."

"You hit hay?" asked Duke.

"No, it is just a saying. Now scoot off to bed!"

"Yes, Uncle Flint." But Duke stayed unmoved.

"Is something the matter, Conrad?" asked Scarlett.

Duke turned from Flint towards her, "I'm still scared. Can.. One of you sleep with me?" Duke wished he had a camera with his at that moment, the look on both of their faces was priceless!

Flint threw his hands in the air, "Oh NO! Not me! I can only _imagine_ what people will start saying. No thanks. Red?"

Duke turned towards Scarlett with puppy dog eyes and Foofoo in his arms. "Please?"

Scarlett stood mystified for a mere moment, then stood up from the couch. "Oh, fine. Let the sleeping with the C.O. rumors start flying."

Going back into the bedroom, Scarlett tucked in Duke and Foofoo. Sliding herself next to both of them, she heard Flint choke down a snicker from the doorway. "Keep that door open Mister!" she scolded, "And if this gets out, I will personally give you six weeks of PT. With Beach Head in his unmentionables!"

Flint grinned, "You are so evil." closing the door behind him.

Giving off a sigh, Scarlett glanced at Duke, who was now asleep on her shoulder.

-----------------------

Flint staggered into the Mess Hall a few hours later in the morning. "Coffee.. I need Coffee." his mind screamed. He bumped into something solid, "Excuse me." he uttered, only to find out that the solid object was the wall and not a person. Shaking his head in frustration, he went to the counter and grabbed two mugs of the caffeine coffee.

"Hey, Flint!" he heard someone holler. Turning, he noticed Lady Jaye waving at him.

Taking a seat next to her, he took a long sip of coffee. "Mmm.. This coffee tastes good this morning."

"Umm… Flint?" said Cover Girl who was sitting across from Lady Jaye. "That is not coffee."

"Hmm? What?"

"She's right Flint, that is not coffee you are drinking, it is tea." Lady Jaye confirmed. "Boy, you look like you did not sleep a wink last night. How was the babysitting?"

Flint gave a low sounding grunt, "Eghh.. Do not remind me. We were up all night. Between the Monsters, mousetraps, Beach Head mostly naked, the screams and the endless stories. I am surprised I am still here. I think I am here."

Cover Girl shook her head, "You must have had a rough night, since you are still wearing your pajamas."

Flint choked on the tea, "Wha..a..t!" glancing down at his clothing.

"Relax Flint, I was only pulling your leg."

"How is this for a joke, two weeks KP." he replied, causing the women to laugh. "Fine, make that three, for both of you."

"Flint!" Lady Jaye said in shock. Not wanting to aggravate him any more, she changed the subject. "So where is Scarlett?" sipping her coffee.

"When I left, they were both sleeping on the bed." he answered with a yawn.

Lady Jaye spit out her coffee with a choke, while Cover Girls' mouth could not open any wider and the bagel that was in her hand fell back on the plate.

"I did not just say that." Flint shook his head. "Scarlett is going to use me as target practice now for sure!"

"Spill the details, soldier boy!" demanded Lady Jaye.

"What details?" came from Flint, "Duke was a little scared last night and we both kept him company. He could not sleep unless one of us slept with him, and I for a fact was not going to be the one." causing both the women at the table to burst out laughing.

"So, Scarlett volunteered to sleep with him?"

He slowly nodded, "Last I saw them, Duke slept on Scarletts' shoulder with Foofoo in between them." as more fits of glee spread around the table.

A hand touched Flints' shoulder, turning around he gulped at the look on Scarletts' face. "I cannot believe my ears! Flint!"

"Sorry, she made me talk." pointing to an ear-to-ear smiling Lady Jaye.

"Unlikely story. By the way, how is Duke this morning." she asked.

Flint stared agape, "What! I thought he was still with you. Last time I saw both of you was in the bedroom." a snicker escaped from his left.

Scarletts' face turned pale, "I..he..we.." as another snicker became unleashed from the table. "I woke up this morning by Foofoos' mane up my nose. But no sign of Conrad. I thought you brought him to the Mess."

Flint stood up, "No, I haven't seem him all morning." Now he was concerned, how could they possibly loose a six foot two C.O.

"Ha! He escaped from you too! Now you know how we felt!" stated Cover Girl. "That Conrad is tricky!"

"Guess another round of seeking." said Lady Jaye standing up to help with the search.

Breaker darted in the mess, finding Flint with the ladies he ran towards them. "Flint! General Hawk arrived a few minutes ago and he is demanding to see Duke!"

Flint shook his head, "Can this _get_ any worse!"

He spoke too soon as Gung Ho dashed in looking for Flint. "Hurry! We got trouble!"

"What is it, G.H.?"

"It's Duke. I think he went off the deep end, he is balancing on the cannon in the front."

"WHAT!" they all shouted at once.

"We got to get him down from there before he become gravely hurt." spoke up a shaky Scarlett.

"That or if Hawk finds out. I see all of us on KP for life!" added Flint.

Most of the Joes listening on the new developments, followed the others outside near the cannon. There, balancing on its' edge was their Field Commander.

"Duke! I mean Conrad! Do not move, stay where you are. We are going to get you down from there."

Duke looked at the crowd below and gave Flint a wave. "Hello down there! Look at me Uncle Flint, I am going to fly like in the movie!"

Flint stared at him with an open mouth. "No!"

Scarlett turned towards the Warrant Officer, "Which movie did you _exactly_ watch last night with him?"

Flint coughed as the words, "The Boy who could Fly." escaped his now tied tongue.

"Flint! You made him watch that! You know he would get ideas, and when we get him safely down remind me to.."

"I know..I know..target practice, right?"

Scarlett nodded, "We better get Doc here STAT before General.." but her sentence was interrupted by Hawks' familiar voice.

"What the devil is going on here?" Glancing up towards the massive cannon, he watched Duke sway his arms up and down. "Duke! What are you doing there! Get down here right now! That is a direct order!"

Duke looked down at the General, before sticking out his tongue. "Make me!"

General Hawk gave a growl, turning to Flint and Scarlett he asked, "Did _he _just mock me?"

Flint gulped, it was time to tell the truth to Hawk. Dukes' life depended on it now. "Hawk, I have to confess something, sir."

"I'm listening." Hawk said with narrowed eyes.

"Well..I..this.."

Suddenly Shipwreck cried out stepping next to Hawk. "This is all mostly my fault! I shouldn't have played that mop hockey game!"

Another voice stepped forward, "No, I am to blame arguing with Wetsuit all the time." came from Leatherneck.

"No, it is partially your fault. I will take half blame if it not for my big mouth.." came from Wetsuit.

"You are all wrong! It was my fault for annoying Duke with the mishap of the Wolverine." came from Cover Girl.

Clutch started to nod his head, but then abruptly stopped, "No, CC.. I will take the fall. I took it out without permission."

"My fault! My fault!" cried out Bazooka. "I need to learn left from right."

Alpine patted his buddy on the shoulder, "No good buddy, I am to blame, for those crazy ideas in my hollow head."

"Oh..who cares! I'll take the fall! If I did not pestered Duke all the time with some of the lame brains.." came from Beach Head.

"It's our fault," came from both Flint and Lady Jaye, "Our constant arguing sent him over the edge."

Scarlett closed her eyes, "No, you are all wrong, it is all my fault. With all those reports and constant trouble makers I have sent to his office.."

Suddenly Ace shouted, "Oh no! He is going to jump!"

They all glanced up to watch Duke ready himself to jump. "Ready or Not here I come!" he called out towards the crowd.

"Duke! No!" cried out Scarlett.

"I can't bare to watch." said Lady Jaye closing her eyes and leaning against Flints' chest.

"Tell us when it is over." Alpine said covering his eyes with one hand as he closed Bazookas' with his other.

"Take one more step Conrad and you are grounded for life!" Flint threatened. He had to try and stop him somehow.

From somewhere near by a small chuckle surrounded the silence that had overcome the Joes. The chuckle accelerated to a laugh and then into a thunderous out of control guffaw.

Turning, Flint stared open mouthed at the General, who know was laughing so hard, his features were bright red. "Sir?"

General Hawk Abernathy, stared at Flint before giving another verse of laughter. "Alright, Duke!" he called up at his second in command. "I think they learned their lessons. Don't you agree?"

Glancing up, Scarlett saw Duke give Hawk a thumbs up and started to climb down a rope. Did she then noticed that he was wearing a harness! "What the.. You mean this was all planned?" she asked mystified.

Duke glided down the rope, and walked to the crowd. Saluting Hawk, he gave a large grin. "Thank you for your participation with the punishment, sir."

"Puu..uu..nishment!" stuttered Flint towards Hawk.

Hawk only gave him a smile. "I thought something was not right when Duke talked to me the other day on the phone. So, I waited til he could call me back during a safe time and explain the details. I think you all deserved it."

They all stood horrified at the First Sergeant.

"You mean to tell us, that you did not have partial amnesia and play a six year old Conrad Hauser. All this was some sort of lesson?" resulted Flint.

Duke nodded, "Correct."

Scarlett stepped forwards towards the field commander, "So, basically you had all think that you were a typical six year old and played us along. Not to mention had us worried. All this, to teach us all a good deserving lesson."

"Yes."

"All this time.. And last night! You had both Flint and myself in the verge of total torture! Not to mention the Foofoo.." her voice accelerated with a tint of anger.

Duke grinned, "Now Scarlett.." as he backed up a few steps. "What would Foofoo think?"

Scarlett grabbed Duke by the arm, "Oh, I do not know what Foofoo would think at this point. But I may do know what Foofoos' owner may do." turning to General Hawk she asked, "General?"

"By all means, Ma'am. He is all yours."

"Sir?" came the shock from Dukes' vocal chords.

Scarlett began to pull Duke away from the crowd, "Congratulations Conrad Scott Hauser, you just became this mornings training sessions' target practice." turning over her shoulder she called back, "And Flint, do not forget you have six weeks of PT with a underwear only Beach Head."

A roar of laughter surrounded the now petrified G.I. Joe Field Commander and the openmouthed Warrant Officer and Ranger.

Hawk, giving off another loud guffaw, called out towards him, "Hey Duke! You know what they say! What goes around, comes around!"

------------------ ------------------------------- ------------------------------- ----------------------


	10. Chapter ten

"…and I still have the scars from Scarletts' target practice session." said an embarrassed Duke.

Falcon had been totally silent throughout the story, now burst out laughing. "I cannot believe you did that to them!"

"Oh, Believe it!" said Flint. "I still have nightmares of that Lion chasing me in Beach Heads' underwear." making the others join in the laughter.

"So, how did you pull off the perfect six year old act?" asked an intrigued Falcon.

"Easy, I mimicked you." came the answer, grinning at his brothers' horrified look.

"I never seen Foofoo around, do you still have him?"

Duke shook his head. "I have not seen him either. Do you have him, Red?"

"No, I have not seen the stuffed lion since leaving him on your bed. I thought you had him all this time." answered Scarlett.

"Great! New case for Nancy Drew, 'The Case of the Missing Stuffed Lion.' " said Beach Head.

"Hey Listen!" came the voice of Cover Girls'. "I do not hear any thunder anymore."

Lady Jaye nodded, "And the rain stopped too."

"Yeah, but still no power." stated Flint.

Falcon glanced down once more at the old tattered book. Once again he flipped the page over. More colorful pictures of his teammates looked directly at him. One of the pictures caused him to smile as there staring back at him was Duke near a sleeping Polar Bear. Next to that picture illustrated Flint and Lady Jaye in sweats, but noticing that Jayes' pants were MIA. The one below it gave him a shock.

"Is that Beach Head with a.. and a.." he stuttered.

Beach Head growled. "What is_ that_ doing in there?"

Flint looked up to the ceiling whistling, while Duke gazed at an imaginary spot on his shirt.

"Spill it Beach!" pleaded Falcon. This story he wanted to hear.

Beach Head gave another growl. "Fine.. You want the story you got it. Tried it once, did not like it, never again. The end!"

Suddenly the lights flickered then dimmed and flicked fully back on.

"Power is back on!" cried out Cover Girl.

"Thank you Miss Marple!" Beach Head grunted.

Falcon closed the book and handed back to Scarlett. "Thanks for showing me this."

The red head gave him a smile, "Anytime." She stood and replaced the album on a shelf near the other couch.

"I hope this time it remains there." said Lady Jaye giving both Flint and Duke a hard stare.

"Well, this was a fun moment going down memory lane." said Cover Girl with a yawn. "But I am ready for bed."

Beach Head and Falcon both stood up from their sitting positions on the floor. "Yeah, we should do this more often, like maybe once a decade." suggested Beach Head and gave off a moan from Cover Girl punching him in the arm.

Duke, Scarlett, Flint and Lady Jaye rolled their eyes. All seven of the team members started to make their way down the hall and towards their quarters. Rounding a corner of the hallway a small creature greeted them.

"What the.."

"Oh no! Who let her in?"

"Not again!"

"Peewww.."

"Oh.. Floobagooble." they all said at the same moment as an unpleasant order surrounded them.


End file.
